Singular Vision

Singular Vision

The voice called out to him once more and he strained to hear. It was distorted as though calling through wind, digitalized and rough. And when the winds caught the words they split into several voices calling out at once, all trying to say the same thing like some insane chorus from hell. John shivered as the winds snaked past him. He stood in a white room, in every direction white was all he could see and he briefly wondered how the wind could blow in a room with no windows or doors.

"It burns," he was able to hear among the tangled mess of voice and wind "...help...must...fire burns...all!" Through the torrent of wind and dust he could of sworn he saw a figure standing there but the twisting mass shifted and sparked and he lost sight of the form. What once was only wind, voice and dust grew into a writhing mass of flames that continued to grow with every second. "John!" the voice asked sounding clearer, the mass of flames approaching him. "CAN YOU HEAR ME?" the voice screamed and hands reached out from the mass of flames and pulled him into it's mass.

"John, can you hear me? Dammit it wake up! It's just a nightmare!" Bruce said shaking his friend who lay in bed screaming at the top of his lungs, fighting an unseen foe. They were supposed to be at Walt and Sarah's an hour ago for dinner but when John hadn't showed everyone had gotten worried. Bruce thought it a bit odd that John had just forgotten and gone to bed early until he heard the screams. Bruce's attempt to wake his friend finally paid off as John sat up straight in bed. "Damn that was one hellava nightmare!" Bruce said offhand as John began to take in his surroundings.

"Bruce? What are you doing here?" John said getting out of bed.

"Dinner, at Walt and Sarah's...remember? You're late."

"That isn't until tomorrow night."

"Wednesday John, not Thursday. You must of gotten the days mixed."

"I didn't get the days mixed Bruce, it's Tuesday, remember we watched the game yesterday."

"John that was Monday. Wait, are you saying that you slept through Tuesday and most of Wednesday?"

"That's not possible..." John stood motionless for a moment. He realized then just how dark it was outside when the full light of day should be streaming through his windows. The dream. This time it was worse, much worse. All he'd ever seen was the torrent of wind and the voice, this time though the wind changed. It was more demanding and turned into flames. It wasn't threatening before but this time it dragged him into the flame with it. Unless it wasn't a dream but a vision. He had to remind himself that his visions didn't work that way.





"So he just sleeps for 36 hours straight and shrugs it off like it's nothing big?"

"Maybe he was really tired, or maybe it's just none of our business Sarah."

"After everything he's been through? It scares me sometimes knowing that we don't know what caused those attacks last year that caused him to lose time or the times he'd passed out completely. What if it's starting again?"

"You know John better than any of us Sarah, you know how stubborn he can be about hospitals."

"I know. But I don't have to like it."



John signed in relief as he awoke. For whatever reason the dream hadn't come back after the last time. He didn't know why and didn't care as long as it meant that whatever it was, was over. It was somewhat disconcerting to find you missed a day and a half without even realizing it, not to mention his friends at times sending odd looks his way. He knew they meant well of course and were just concerned once again but he didn't need everyone to be constantly checking up on him to see if it had happened again.

He showered, changed and slowly made his way downstairs. Not too long later, mug of coffee in hand he realized he'd neglected to check his mail the last few days. He'd found several letters among them, the regular letters from people wanting his help, an invitational postcard to visit some fan website in his honour that he'd never heard of and a small lightweight package with no return address. He dropped the rest of the mail onto a small table in the hallway but kept hold of the package. He never knew what to expect of these. He'd gotten a few over the years and most were junk but this one seemed almost warm to the touch as though it had been sitting out in the sun all day. Sitting back down on his couch he carefully tore open one end of the package and gently dumped it's contents onto the coffee table beside his mug. It only contained one item. It was a necklace; a simple piece of string with a small wooden pendant shaped like a puzzle piece. It was a varnished piece, smooth and shiny with a single loop of metal protruding from the flat end or edge piece of the puzzle.

Why would someone send him this? Was it a piece of evidence from a crime, an item of jewellery from a missing person? There was no note, nothing to tell him what it was about or why it had been sent to him. The only way to find out anything was to touch it and possibly get a vision. But that might just be what this person wanted. It only took a few moments for him to decide and he slowly reached out for the pendant and prepared for the possible onslaught. At first it seemed like nothing had happened but as he looked up he realized he was back in the white room once more except this time his couch and coffee table had followed.

"John Smith!" called the scrambled voice once more

"John Smith, can you hear me?" The winds did not come this time and as John watched his surroundings, neither did the fire he'd seen last time.

"Uh kind of"

"Bloody hell" the disjoined voice muttered. "Can you hear me better now?" said the voice once more but this time the strange sound accompanying it vanished and he realized with a start that the voice was feminine with a soft British accent. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned quickly expecting the fire again. What he saw was far from the flames in his dreams. There stood a girl in her early twenties with long dark hair and similar dark eyes. Her skin, ever slightly tinted yet slightly paled looked exotic . She held a wooden puzzle piece in her hand as well.


"Who are you? What's going on here?"

"You know for such a famous psychic, you sure are hard to get a hold of. I've been trying to get a message to you through your dreams for weeks now."

"That was you?!?"

"Fact is I didn't want you coming out of one of these type of visions with missing time, which sad to say you will be now. It's totally unavoidable of course."

"Who are you?"

"Name's Neptune. Mr. Smith I came here to warn you. You don't quite have all the concepts of this gift down yet and thus some misunderstandings may have occurred. I'd be willing to explain further but I'm afraid this first meeting must be brief. If I had been able to reach you in your dreams, it wouldn't have posed as much a problem but now you'll be forgetting part of your day rather than just sleeping through it."

"I don't understand."

"Ever hear of a paradox Mr. Smith? When one sees future events, a paradoxical situation can develop if the seer can't sort out all the possible future's. You may only get presented with one vision, one possible event but for that one event many things can happen, especially since by simply seeing a future event you can change the outcome. Sometimes this is factored into what you see which is why you have to be careful with what is shown to you and be careful with how you react to it. I believe you may have stumbled across such an event and without realizing started a domino effect so to speak leading to it actually happening." She suddenly looked around her "I think, I think perhaps I've overstayed my welcome with you Mr. Smith. I apologize in advance for whatever situation you find yourself in when you come out of this, but I must go."

He was suddenly pulled from the vision to find himself standing in the middle of the Cleaves Mills public library with several books on hand. They tumbled from his grasp hitting the carpeted floor with a dull thud before his cell phone started ringing. At the sudden noise several people looked up including an annoyed librarian who promptly pointed to a sign of a cell phone circled and crossed out. He pulled the phone from a pocket and switched it to buzz before bending over to pick up the dropped books. He peered carefully at the titles "Paradox theory", "The Psychic Phenomenon", "Seers, Psychics and the Future" and "The Future Unknown". The last had several papers sticking out of it and John pulled one of them out. The notes were written quickly but there was no mistaking that they were in his own handwriting, he just didn't remember writing them. He walked over to a nearby table and placed the books down before taking a seat to read the other papers stuffed into the book.




"I tried calling him, it just keeps ringing and ringing."

"You don't think something's happened do you?"

"No, I'm sure he's fine but I could really use his help on this one." Walt paused smiling to himself "You know if someone had told me a few years ago that I'd be regularly seeking the help of a psychic to solve cases I think I would have thrown them in the drunk tank for the night or had them co..." Walt's words were cut off by the ringing of the phone.

"That's probably him." Sarah remarked as she picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Yeah Sarah, it's me. Have either of you heard from John today?" The voice of Bruce Lewis said on the other side of the line.





'Psychic-the receiver of information and insights without logical reason.

Seer- a person who possesses the ability to foretell future events through insight or visions, or by acts of divination

Clairvoyance- the ability to receive information from unseen forces, or through visions, often involving future events.

She mentioned seer, the seer can't sort out all the possible future's. But what possible future's?

Paradox- an apparently true statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition.

Restricted action resolution paradox- Novikov self consistency principle- can't change the future by knowing it -I guess novikov was wrong there if I'm any example

Grandfather paradox -changing events so that changing them should not have happened at all, a man killing his grandfather, precludes his own travel to the past.

Predestination paradox (causal loop?)- predestines the person to do what is to be: tying to stop something would actually cause it to happen

A variation on the predestination paradox which involves information (visions?) rather than objects, a self fulfilling prophecy, fulfilling a role in an event yet to occur.

Event yet to occur? Predestination? Domino effect leading to it actually happening?
What is the event yet to occur?'



John skimmed through the rest of the notes but they went on and on about the same few things. She'd been talking about a predestination paradox. Somehow by not seeing all the consequences or possible future's as she'd put it, he'd already started down the path to some event he had no clue about. But then shouldn't he if apparently he was trying to stop it? He tried to think of any relevant visions around the time the dreams started but nothing came to mind. What was she trying to warn him of? He didn't know what to do. Closing his eyes for a moment to think he realized the answer was within his grasp. Neptune or whoever she was obviously knew what was going on. All he had to do was initiate another vision from the necklace. It was only then that he realized he didn't know where it was. He'd been holding it in the vision but now it was nowhere to be found. Leaving the books on the table he stuffed the notes into his jacket pocket and headed out the door.




"No actually we haven't, Walt has been calling his cell but he doesn't answer."

"Has something happened?"

"Not really, just another case Johnny might be able to help with."

"Well I'd been knocking on his door for 15 minutes and when he didn't answer I tried going in, his security system wasn't on and the door wasn't even locked. He wasn't there. It's not like him to just take off without letting anyone know, especially since he knew I was coming over today."



When John got to the parking lot he spotted his own vehicle waiting in a place not far from the door. Digging in another pocket he found the keys; further searches of the pockets revealing he hadn't brought the puzzle piece with him into the library after all. Upon sitting down in the driver's seat however he spotted it sitting in an empty cup holder. Reaching out for it he was unprepared for the vision that followed.


He wasn't in the white room instead standing in a large abandoned building. From a distance he heard the sounds of someone yelling, actually quite a few someone's, the noise echoing down the large open space. As he followed the sounds he came upon an odd site. A man with long dark hair, wielding a sword, surrounded by several odd looking men also holding weapons, one of which with odd markings on his face. They circled and taunted the man with the sword, drawing him into a fight.

"I am everything your people call demons and devils." John hears one of them say

"I am Anger, I am the Dark!" another adds

"I bring Chaos and Fear and Doubt and Anarchy." The third says.

"I existed before Time began, and I will exist when Time is ended." The first said. Suddenly the three became six and John's jaw dropped from seeing it. 'How did...?'

"For you, all that matters is that you cannot stop me." The dark man lashed out but all six disappeared as though they'd never been there. It's then that John heard footsteps from behind. He turned and saw a blond man, the third of the group approaching slowly making his way through the building along the path John had walked moments ago.

'There's no way he could have gotten that far away so fast' John thought to himself. Then again this vision wasn't making much sense. John turned back towards the dark haired man to see the first running past the dark haired man followed by the second and third, each time darting just out of reach once again drawing the dark haired man into a fight. He swung wildly trying to hit them with the sword, each time missing. The blonde that had been approaching from behind paused for a moment taking in the scene before rushing in to help the dark haired man.

"No stop!" John yells but no one hears as the dark haired man glimpsing someone behind him, reacts instantly swinging the sword decapitating the blonde instantly.

Suddenly there was a hand on his shoulder and he was ripped from the vision and found himself back in the white room.

"You weren't supposed to see that." remarked Neptune

"What the hell did I see?" Neptune cast her eyes downward "A really...bad day...for a few good friends of mine. But it's not why you're here. You can't stop that day, it's already happened"

"Then why not explain why I am here since you seem to have all the answers!" John said slightly harsher than he'd meant to. He'd just seen a man decapitated, one of a hundred things he never wanted to see and somehow she knew all about it. She threw something at him. He caught it before it fell and realized it was a newspaper.

"I am here because of a mistake you made or will make Mr. Smith. I'm here to help you. I understand fully that seeing what you just saw may put you on edge but I'm the one that saw it and have lived with it since before it even happened. I'm the one that had to sit for months and wait until the time got closer if I wanted to prevent it. You tapped into my vision when you picked up the pendant this time because I was not here to intervene. It won't happen again."

"What do you mean you weren't here?"

"In order for this to work you have to be in the process of getting vision from incredibly strong event and I have to be seeking you out to circumvent the vision and communicate with you here."

"You mean you're not from the future?"

"No I am not."

"Then why the missing time? The only time I was able to communicate with someone in a vision was when a person from the future held an object that I held in the past. I ended up missing time after coming out of it."

"You've talked to someone from the future? Impressive."

"I thought you were too. You are holding the same puzzle piece I am."

"Correction, I am holding another piece of the puzzle, they're not the same. Actually I'm holding your piece and you have mine, but if I'd sent you yours, this," she said indicating the white room "wouldn't be possible. Like I said before, a strong event was needed and my puzzle piece has one hell of a strong event attached to it. As for the missing time, I think you'll find this time, it's lessened. The further apart we are, the more time after one of these communications is forgotten afterwards."

"That means you're getting closer."

"Yep, on a plane right now flying over the Atlantic ocean. But you're not here to listen to my flight plan. The newspaper, I got that weeks ago, right before I tried to get to you through your dreams."

"I don't understand."

"I saw something when I was leafing through it. Something you've seen as well. Something that unknowingly you may cause if it's not prevented."

"A predestination paradox." she smiled.

"You've been researching I see. Yes, I believe it will become one if not stopped, or more exactly, if you are not stopped. What I saw was fire, lots of it burning everything in it's path. When I picked up that paper I saw Washington engulfed by a wall of flame."

"Stillson."

"He plays a part in it, yes but you are the one that causes it to happen. I looked through every inch of that paper Mr. Smith. Stillson isn't in it. Why would a so far unimportant American politician be in a paper halfway around the world really? Turn to page 17." John flipped through the pages until he came upon the page mentioned. He stared in shock at the image of himself looking back at him. "It's you. I got that vision because you are in that paper."

"That's impossible!"

"And why is it so impossible Mr. Smith?"

"I had that vision when I shook Stillson's hand. He causes it. I've even met a future self who wanted me to let someone I care about, kill Stillson to stop it from happening."

"But he didn't really tell you that did he? Think about this for a moment. If you are headed towards a predestination paradox that Stillson plays a role in, would it not be safe to assume that when you shook his hand the vision was merely a mirror of yourself? I told you when we first met here that sometimes we may only get presented with one possible event. Being able to see events that are to happen also means you can get visions that take that into account. You yourself had a vision of a friend dying in a place you and he wouldn't have even been in if you didn't get the vision to begin with. If you hadn't seen it and felt bound to be there and stop it, it wouldn't have happened in the first place because you and he wouldn't have been there."

"A grandfather paradox."

"You really have been researching I," she stopped looking around her like she did the last time "Damn it!"

"What is it?" John asked suddenly concerned

"Something's wrong, unlike you I am mildly aware of my surroundings and the plane..." Without warning the vision ended and John found himself in the process of driving. Nearly colliding with an oncoming car he swerved just in time and slammed on the brakes.

"You know from now on I'd rather not be anywhere near a car, road or vehicle of any kind when coming out of one of those."




Walt's calls were interrupted when suddenly his beeper went off. He picked up his cell and dialled.

"What's the 911?" Walt asked of the person on the other end of the line. His face blanched.

"Walt, what's wrong?"

"There's been a plane crash. A small private plane, it hit several houses as it went down. I have to go, I have to be there."


Once assured everything was ok he took his foot off the brake and proceeded on his way. Except that he didn't know where he was headed and hadn't left any convenient notes for himself this time either. He continued down the same road all the while his mind spinning. He couldn't believe that he was the cause of everything he'd been working so hard to prevent. Stillson was evil, he knew it down to his very core and yet he knew she wasn't lying to him. Maybe she'd seen it wrong. Or maybe he had all along. His cell phone began to vibrate in his pocket. Pulling over he finally answered.

"Hello?"

"Finally. Why haven't you answered before, I've been calling you for hours."

"I've been a little busy with something Walt. What's up?"

"There's been a case I wanted your help on but that can wait. Something else has almost literally fallen into my lap so to speak. There's been a plane crash. A private plane went down and hit a few houses on the way. The FAA are on their way to investigate but they're not going to get here until tomorrow at the earliest, we're still trying to find any possible survivors in the wreckage."

Silence permeated the other line. A plane crash. She'd said something was wrong right before getting cut off. It couldn't be. If she were psychic she would have seen the crash before it happened and stopped it like he had once before.

"John? You there?"

"Where?"

"About a mile from the airport, believe me you can't miss it, it's right off the main road."

"I'm on my way." it was only then he realized he had already been headed in that direction before the call came in. 'It couldn't be her plane' he kept telling himself all the way until the smoke and flashing lights directed him to the site of the crash. Eventually he made his way through the crowds to meet up with Walt.

"Do you know who's plane it was? Were there any survivors?"

"They found two people who were buried under their homes during the crash but there hasn't been anyone recovered yet from the plane. As to who was supposed to be on it, we have no idea. I was kind of hoping you could tell us." John nodded and slowly made his way through debris. He'd stop every now and then to touch a piece of wreckage and saw random visions of families that lived in the homes but nothing of the passengers of the plane. He stopped when he reached a larger piece of what was unmistakably the fuselage and slowly he reached out.

Suddenly time rewound and he saw the plane pull itself back together as it slowly climbed backwards to its place in the sky before the crash. Instantaneously he was standing in the cockpit beside the lone pilot who had slumped in his chair un-breathing. He was already dead before the crash. Time resumed and he watched as the ground came closer and closer until final impact.

He came out of the vision and was about to tell Walt what he'd seen when something half buried under another piece of wreckage caught his eye. He bent over and pulled it out from under the remains of a burnt leather chair. It was a somewhat scorched page from the newspaper Neptune had shown him in the white room. He flipped the page around and was once again greeted by the sight of his own face peering back at him.




"We recovered the body of the pilot an hour ago right where you said it would be. The coroner is doing an autopsy right now to determine the cause of death. There was only one victim aside from the pilot although we still haven't recovered bodies of any passengers that may or may not have been onboard. Most of the people who lived in the affected houses either got out in time or were at work when it happened thankfully."

"There was someone on board Walt. I saw her in the shared vision. She handed me the newspaper that page was from, told me she was in a plane somewhere over the Atlantic before the vision cut out. She said there was something wrong right before it happened." After finding the page John found himself far too distracted to pick up much else from the crash. After locating the area the pilot's body ended up he'd gone back to Walt and Sarah's where Bruce had joined them to discuss what was going on.

"So she had the ability to somehow link visions with you , but what I don't get is why?” Bruce asked

"She was trying to warn me."

"Warn you of what?" Sarah wondered out loud

"Something that's still to come, something I needed her help with. She knew things about psychic abilities that I've only barely scratched the surface of. She had answers to a lot of questions I didn't have the chance to ask. "

"You do realize that if she were on that plane like she said that she will probably never be able to give you those answers now." Walt interjected. The room grew silent for many moments as none of them had anything to add to that final statement.

"I should of seen it, she should have seen it, two psychics and neither one of us sees an imminent plane crash?" John said finally speaking as he got up to leave.

"It happens John, it's not your fault that you didn't see it anymore than it's her fault for not seeing it either."

"But she paid the price didn't she? She wouldn't of even been on that plane if it weren't for me." John said before walking out the door.


It was getting dark before he'd finally gotten home. He didn't know what to do next. If what she'd told him were true the paradox may have already begun and now he didn't know what to do to stop the domino effect. Even after he pulled up the familiar driveway and turned off the engine, he sat silent not quite willing to move. He stared silently at the puzzle piece necklace sitting back in the empty cup holder. Out of a sense of hopeless hope he reached out trying to trigger another vision. Nothing happened. Taking the necklace with him he went inside.

"You know for such a famous psychic, you sure are hard to get a hold of." That voice! John stopped and immediately and flipped on the lights. There on his couch sat Neptune, a smile on her face. "I've been waiting here for hours you know. You sure took your time getting back."

"You're alive!"

"So you heard about the plane then. I think my pilot might have had a heart attack before he could land. I blame myself. The lifestyle he was living being on call to fly at a moments notice led to many nights of fast food and little exercise. I often forget what a toll that can be on one's health."

"But how? You were on that plane."

"I was, then I wasn't. I got off. What does it matter how?" she grabbed for the necklace she wore and began to take it off. "Here, I'd like mine back at some point and this one you can keep." it was the second puzzle piece. They exchanged necklaces.

"This one doesn't look all that different from the other one."

"No I suppose it doesn't, but this one was given to me by a very good friend and I wouldn't want to lose it."

"I still don't understand how you got off that plane."

"You ask too many questions." she said with a laugh

"There's a lot I want to know that you seem to have the answers to."

"I don't have all the answers but I'll try to fill you in on the ones I do and can." her hand reached out to touch the side of his face and he was bombarded with many images all at once. He saw desert sands and camels one moment and high mountains with snowy peaks the next. It was unlike anything he'd ever experienced and he wasn't all that sure that it was actually a vision but something else. All too soon it was over and Neptune quickly pulled her hand away.

"Wow." she said breathlessly

"I second that wow and ask what just happened?"

"You are a stronger seer than you realize Mr. Smith. Stronger than even I realized."

"Call me John. What do you mean?"

"Alright, John. Let's just say that if you had another few centuries, maybe even just one, I do believe your abilities would surpass my own."

"Too bad...I think I'd like to see that."
"Be careful what you wish for, John. You never know who's listening." she said with a soft smile.


They spent hours discussing everything from the bad timing of certain visions to the odd things people do when they know a psychic is in their midst. It was growing bright outside yet again before they finally got back to more recent subjects.

"So you're saying that even though you're apparently better at this than I am, even you weren't able to see the crash?"

"I'm not saying I'm better at it than you are, only that I know some things that you don't yet. In regards to the crash, I was somewhat distracted at the time and besides that I generally keep to myself. There's no telling what you can pick up in an airport."

"Tell me about it." John said with a devious smile. "But it's not as though there's any choice to it. I tried avoiding visions for a while, I carried my own utensils, stayed away from public places when I could..."

"There is a choice John, and it doesn't involve becoming a hermit boarded up in one's own home. Control it. Closing one's self off to receiving the visions, even if just for a day. Before I ever saw a single vision, I was tormented by the emotions of others. By the time I was eight I didn't know my own feelings in any matter unless I was away from people."

"You're an empath." Neptune nodded

"Someone would walk past me worried their business would fail and suddenly I'd be overwhelmed by fear. Someone else walking past having lost a family member and I'd be overwhelmed with their sense of loss and grief. I learned to stay away from people unless they were relatively calm or happy. Eventually that would have become too much as well. It wasn't until someone taught me how to control it, and at times shut it off completely that I stopped becoming a slave to other people's emotions. You can learn it too. The stronger visions, the one's you need to see can still be allowed to get through but it'll be up to you to decide when and where to see them or with what intensity."

"When do we get started?"

"It would probably be best if we stopped the whole world in flames thing first."

"Do you know when it happens?"

"If we stop it that won't matter," she said with a smile "But there's still time."

"So how do we stop it?"

"First off we confirm that what I've seen isn't a paradox. Wouldn't want to stop you if all along I was shown the flames because I was meant to help you bring down Stillson."

"Then we go back to where it all started, we go to Stillson."

"Lead the way."


Moments later they arrived at the location Greg Stillson locally worked out of but were at once stopped by security.

"You can't go in there." Neptune crept up to the man stopping them.

"And why is that?" she said smiling sweetly as she stood very close.

"Uh..." the man was taken back for a moment.

"It's very important that we get in, so why not just let us in?" She said looking directly into his eyes.

"Let you in…" the man said monotone and stood unmoving as Neptune motioned to John and they both went inside.

"You're going to have to tell me how you did that."

"I've got mad skills John that you can't even touch." she said with a smirk. "So where's the office of scumbag er...I mean Stillson."

It was the sound of John’s laughter that attracted the attention of a somewhat annoyed Greg Stillson.

"Great now what?" he said somewhat under his breath as he opened his office door. "Smith. To what do I owe the pleasure of another visit. Wouldn't want you passing out again like last time you were in here. Now who's this?" he said adding a smile as he took in the sight of Neptune. She turned her head to glance at John in amusement before turning back.

"Name's Neptune."

"That's interesting. Sharing a name with a Greek god isn't something that happens every day."

"Actually Poseidon was the Greek, Neptune was Roman. But I was named after the planet not some mythological figure." she stopped realizing she was getting off track. She continued before he could say anything "Mr. Stillson I'd love to discuss mythology and the naming of names but for the moment are more pressing issues at hand. Might we have a moment of your time."

"We? Now you and I 'we' I'm perfectly fine with but if you're talking about Smith here I'd have to say, I'm rather apprehensive. It seems he's made it his life's mission to tell anyone within ear reach that I'm some kind of bad guy."

"Oh right because politicians are such good hearted innocents that never lie a day in their lives." John muttered sarcastically then turned towards Neptune "Why don't you just do that thing you do?" the only response he received is an astonished glare.

"Would you excuse us just a moment." she said to Greg Stillson before turning and walking away several steps with John.

"That nifty little trick is not for public ears, the fewer people that know about it, the safer I'd feel. Besides, it doesn't work with everyone."

"Only those with weak minds right?"

"What? Where on earth did you get that from?"

"Obi wan Kenobi, Star Wars; Episode 4. And I don't think it was on earth" he said with a smile. Neptune rolled her eyes.

"Well using the force as they put it won't help. And it's not about how weak a mind is, but more like how it's wired. Most people can be affected, someone like yourself wouldn't be, even if you weren't psychic. With some people it's just a fluke. And yes sometimes it's about having a strong mind, or a strong will to be more exact. And for the record I was never a fan of Star Wars."

"How can you not like Star Wars?" A cough behind them halted the conversation immediately.

"I get it now, you're one of his groupies. If you two don't mind I have important things to do."

"Oh for crying out loud." Neptune muttered under her breath before following him back to his office.

Greg turned as he heard the door close behind him. In front of the door stood John and Neptune.

"I thought I told you two to leave?"

"Actually you didn't which, as hard as it is to say, is a good thing." John said

"Oh and why is that?" Greg asked with annoyance.

"Because I think I might have been wrong about you."

"Oh, I wouldn't go that far John, he is still a slimy politician after all...he just may not end the world as you once thought. Then again, I could be wrong, it's been known to happen." Neptune added

"What the hell are you two talking about?"

"When I first met you, I had a vision. In fact every time I've come into contact with you, I've had the same vision. Flames. They stretch across Washington DC within only moments killing everything in its path. I'd always assumed that it meant you were going to bring about the deaths of thousands, maybe even millions of people. But not anymore."

"And you just stop this crusade of yours now...why, just out of the goodness of your heart?" Stillson said with a fair amount of sarcasm dripping from his words.

"Because I had the same vision," said Neptune ignoring his tone "And as you know Mr. Stillson, you and I have never met."

"And as it turns out, you may be the only one who actually can stop it, only I've been getting in the way without knowing it. Instead of stopping it, I may be making it possible for it to happen."

"Way to go Smith." Greg said with a smug expression.

"Well then comes the reason why we're here." Neptune said trying to break up the tension in the room. Just because he' been wrong about one incident regarding Stillson didn' mean the hostility these two had towards each other was going to lessen in the least.

"I've come to confirm my theory. Because John sees nothing but fire and destruction when he tries to get a vision from you due to his part in all this, I'm hear to cut through the initial vision and finally put an end to this whole paradox. Seeing as I'm removed from this paradox, I shouldn't see the same vision again." Stillson held out his hand.

"Not that I believe all this crap Smith but if it'll get you off my back once and for all...by all means."

Without hesitation Neptune took his hand and immediately reached out and grabbed John's hand on her other side. Suddenly both John and Neptune found themselves standing among a mass of people. Ahead of them was a large stage area with a podium in front. Around them people cheered and whistled as the form of Greg Stillson took the podium. Behind him giant posters were hung with Stillson's image with the words 'Greg Stillson for President'. He was speaking about goals reached but John tuned him out. He'd never wanted to see this day happen.

"He actually did it. This is what we're trying to save, his political career."

"No, his political career is inconsequential. It's what he does while he's there, it's the lives we can save by letting this day happen. Can you do that John? Despite everything he's done to get here, can you actually let it go?"

"Isn't this why we're here? To see if I have to?"

"No. I never needed this much to know John. This," she said pointing out to the crowd "This is all for you. This is to show you that unless you let it go, it will still happen. That's what you couldn't tell yourself, that's what you couldn't admit."

"I don't understand." Suddenly Neptune was hit hard from behind. Her eyes seemed to glow for a split second before falling to the ground.

"You just couldn't listen." said an annoyed voice from behind. John turned to see his own face looking back at him. It was a face he'd seen before and that he'd hoped never to see again after this day. The white unseeing eyes of his future self glared back at him, the familiar cane still in hand after striking Neptune. The same puzzle piece necklace hanging from his neck.

"I told you to let Rebecca kill Stillson didn't I? Who are you going to trust more? Yourself or some inhuman monster." His future self said.

"This inhuman monster is now seriously annoyed." Neptune said rising slowly to her feet. "And I've seen worse monsters than myself walking around as normal human beings. And I think I'm looking at another."

"You know for being as old as you are, one would think you would know when to stay out of other people's business."

"It became my business when you helped destroy the world. I believe I have a pretty big say in that."

"You're just as bad as they are, blaming me for everything wrong in the world. I can't even walk out on a street nowadays without finding an angry mob after me."

"Why?" the present John asked

"Because you couldn't bring yourself to let Rebecca go. Stillson won, eventually it was too hard to even get near enough to stop him. You wasted your time trying to figure things out rather than taking action."

"That's not what happened and you know it."

"How would you know?"

"Because I've already seen it." she stopped turning to present John. "This is why I brought you here, this is what you needed to see. In his timeline he compelled one of his so called followers to kill Stillson. He saw Stillson becoming more and more powerful, doing despicable things and couldn't stand by and let him anymore. I thought that just your public opposition to Stillson was enough to have brought him down, causing the paradox...but I was wrong. I became a part of the paradox John. I saw it when I touched you earlier today. Originally I thought I'd convinced you to let it go but without seeing for yourself you ended up letting your anger blind you to my warning. Stillson rigs the election. He becomes president, but he is killed before he can stop anything. If he is alive when an important bill comes up he'll be there to stop it. Despite everything he's done and will do. He will be in the right place and time to prevent Armageddon."

"She can't be trusted, she's a..."

"I think I know this part," Present John said sarcastically cutting off his future self "She's a vampire, an evil bloodsucking monster. Am I right?" Neither spoke. "She may be something I can't even try to comprehend. But you are not the person I want to become. If you can so flippantly tell me to allow Rebecca to walk into her own death, how can I trust you?" Neptune was observing the ground below them, unable to look up.

"Because you can't see the big picture!"

"Maybe, but I think you've seen too much of it. Neptune, show me. Show what you wanted me to see. I think we both need to see it."

"You knew." she said looking up "You knew all along? How?"

"The same way you knew to bring me here."

"I was wrong you know, I don't think it'll take 100 years." she said with slight amusement to her voice. Suddenly voices behind them made all three turn. They were now in a small room with three men and one of the voices speaking was that of Greg Stillson.

"I just don't know. It sounds promising in theory but running the whole promotion is that asshat Jensen. I never liked the man, and I swore to myself when I got here I'd never let anything come easy to that insufferable s.o.b." Another man rose from a chair in the corner. The light in the room reflected off a strange ring he wore. His face bore no emotion.

"Do not forget where your allegiances lie. You would not be where you are today if it were not for those who helped you along the way." Greg stood for several minutes in silent contemplation before finally answering.

"You and your friends may have helped me get to where I am, but you don't own me. I'm not going to support it, and I can't afford to be associated with something like this if something goes wrong. You can threaten all you like, I'm not going to be changing my mind."

John watched as the flames from his many nightmares began to reverse themselves leaving behind an untouched Washington DC. The three psychics stood in an untouched clearing in the middle.

"One moment, one choice. He may not of had the safety of the world in his mind when he made the decision, but Greg Stillson made sure the bill did not pass. If he hadn't been there, there would have been no opposition and the bill would have passed leading to the destruction we have all witnessed."

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Future John asked.

"Because just like you, flames can destroy me. Vampires fear it more than anything else. On the day it happened, I wasn't as lucky as you." The three were standing in an unknown house where an alternate version of Neptune stood before a window. She paced back and forth occasionally stopping then suddenly turning to see the others watching her.

"No, not yet. They're not back yet, it can't be." she stopped as a ominous rumble grew in the distance. She turned back to the window to see a wave of flame quickly approaching.

"You can't let this happen John, not again." she yelled as the flames burst through the wall of the house shattering the window with incredible force and swallowing the other Neptune within it's mass. The flames kept coming and the other three braced themselves as the flames bared down on them. Only inches from their faces, the flames stopped. From within the flames a pair of burning hands reached out from the burning wall and pulled future John in. The flames then dissipated leaving the present two staring in amazement at what had happened.

"Did you..." John asked shakily reminded of his previous dreams.

"No, you did it. By finally understanding the paradox and acknowledging what you must do to stop it, you destroyed your future self leaving room for another alternate self to take his place." The house faded from sight as the two were brought out of the vision. Neptune quickly released Stillson's hand and turned to john releasing his.

"Well?" asked Greg Stillson still clearly annoyed.

"You never did it. But just because you aren't going to end the world like I thought, doesn't mean you won't do a lot of other despicable things."

"Oh and I suppose you saw me doing these things right? No one will believe you, hell I don’t even believe you."

"No, all I saw were flames. But I know who you are."

"This was a waste of my time."

"Jensen," Neptune said only now interrupting "Jensen is an asshat. Be sure to keep an eye on him. He'll pose problems for you later on if you're not careful." she said with a slight hypnotic punch.

"Really?" he paused taking in the suggestion then snapping right back "Well why don't you and Smith just get the hell out of my office and let me handle it." He said sarcastically. Without a further word both left closing the door behind them.




"Ok so now just imagine pulling out one brick from that wall and letting in some of that light on the other side. Every time you want to be open to a vision, but don't want to feel it's full force, you pull a few bricks down from the walls you built. After a while it becomes more about pulling out the bricks than building up the walls. You get used to them being..." The lesson was stopped when the phone rang. John got up from his meditative position on the floor and answered.

"Johnny you're there! You really need new batteries for your cell or something. Walt's been looking for you. He's gotten back some information on the plane and it's passenger. Actually he should be almost there already."

"Damn, you told them I was on that plane didn't you?" Neptune said not loud enough to carry through the phone. John covered the mouthpiece on the phone before speaking to Neptune

"How did you know what she said?"

"One of the perks, enhanced hearing." She rose from her place on the floor to head towards a laptop computer. "Mind if I borrow this for a moment?"

"Sure." he said to Neptune before turning back to the telephone conversation. Immediately she accessed the internet and began furiously typing away for several minutes. Composing a quick temporary paper trail took no more than a few minutes, getting the courier with her new paperwork, clothes and luggage to be delivered to the motel she had just 'checked into' without her being present to sign for anything was a bit trickier. By the time John had put down the phone she was logging off.

"Ok, so here's the story I'm going with." Neptune said with a smile.


Several minutes later Walt was knocking at John's door.

"We got back more information about the crash. The plane itself was registered to a company in Maryland called Serpentine Technology. Apparently they have a few planes and that particular plane was exclusively used by someone by the name of-"

"Am I disturbing anything?" Neptune said entering the room. "How rude of me, of course I am. It's just when I hear someone talking about Serpentine I tend to listen."

"And why would that be?" Walt asked unsure what he had just interrupted himself.

"Because it's my company." she said matter of factly. "Name's Anika, I believe that was my plane you were just talking about as well."

"She's alive? John I thought you said she was on that plane."

"Cellular phone calls and visions are both as easily disrupted or misinterpreted." Neptune said offhand.

"So you weren’t on that plane?"

"She actually arrived by car from Toronto." John said following the story Neptune had composed moments before. It would be too hard to explain just how she got out of the doomed plane without so much as a scratch. Actually she still had yet to explain it to him.


"That doesn't make any sense, according to flight records the plane flew here from France, why would it do that if there wasn't anyone on it except the pilot."

"Because the damn thing wouldn't take me to Toronto when I needed it to go. It was being serviced, damned inconvenient if you ask me. I had to book another flight out of Paris to get to Toronto to stop by and say hello to some family members then rented a car in Toronto to get here. The plane was coming to meet me for when I needed to get back."

"Then maybe you could answer some questions later on to help clear this whole mess up."

"I'd be only too glad to." She paused turning her head slightly "That's not the entire reason you're here though is it?"

"How did you...never mind." he redirected his attention on John "Before the plane crash I was trying to get in contact with you over a new case that came up. It's pretty bad John, and we've got no leads. I was kind of hoping you'd be able to help."

"When do we leave?" Neptune asked inviting herself with a smile.

"We? I wasn't asking you." Walt said somewhat aggravated.

"No I suppose you weren't, but I have served as a consultant on many "bad cases" as you put it. I've seen far worse in visions alone. I can handle anything this small town can come up with. Besides, two heads are better than one and if one psychic is better than two heads just imagine what two psychics can see?" She said with a smile.

Nothing more was said on the matter as all three piled into Walt's car. Walt didn't bother to argue figuring miss know it all would find out the hard way all on her own. He didn't know why he had just automatically disliked her, maybe it was because he knew John was never wrong when it came to visions. How could he come to believe she was on that plane unless she wasn't? Something about her told him she wasn't telling the whole truth. It unnerved him. Several minutes later they arrived where the body was found.

"He was found at the end of that alley, half hazardly dumped into a garbage bin. We found his head somewhere near the bottom of the dumpster."

"Wait, he was decapitated?” John asked, a cold chill running through his body.

"Was there any mention of any freak electrical occurrences in the area at the time of death?" Neptune asked curious. Walt ignored her question.

"Coroner said it might have been taken off with something sharp like a sword or an axe. There wasn't any blood spatter in the area so it's assumed the victim was killed elsewhere and dumped here, literally."

"Ok were there any freak electrical occurrences detected anywhere the night the man was killed?" Neptune asked again knowing full well she was being ignored but having no desire to remain that way.

"What the hell does freak electrical occurrences have to do with someone being beheaded?"

"A lot more that you think" she said her voice lowered. Walt didn't catch what she'd said but John did. "I suppose nothing when it comes down to catching the killer but there are a few documented cases of strange electrical surges on nights when strange crimes were committed. No cause was ever found. It's kind of like a local legend where I come from."

"Toronto?"

"Some of my family is currently residing in Toronto but I never said it's where I'm from. Nor do my origins have to do with this case. I simply asked a question and you outright ignored i-"

"I know who did this!" John suddenly shouted

"What? John you haven't even touched anything yet." said Walt exasperated.

"I saw him Walt. In a vision when I tried to reach Neptune, this man with long dark hair killed a young blonde man. There were some weird things going on in the vision but I saw it."

"John, the man that was killed was 45 and had salt and pepper hair." Walt said

"John no! I told you then, you weren't supposed to see that. It has nothing to do with this case. What you saw, it's hard to explain but there are so many things you couldn't possibly understand in it. It wasn't him here." Neptune said with urgency in her voice.

"How do you know that?"

"Because right now he's not even on the same continent! He is a friend, despite all you saw, you must know that what happened, at least in the vision was an accident. He was not here. He did not do this. Touch something John. Touch the dumpster and you'll see it wasn't him." John walked over to the dumpster at the end of the alley, Neptune following behind him. He reached out, his hand hovering over the dumpster slightly shaking before grabbing a hold.

He found himself standing in the alley, only it was dark out. From the far side of the alley he saw a man dressed in dark clothes struggling down the alley with something large and heavy. He stopped in front of John only to lift the lid of the dumpster and throw something inside then he turned and attempted to lift the larger object. He had trouble getting it high enough to fall into the dumpster and after several minutes an arm was knocked loose of the material the now apparent body was covered in to hang out of one of the folds. Time stopped at that moment and John got closer to the suspect peering into his darkness covered face. There he saw the face of a 30 year old with blonde hair. In that instant he found himself standing in a furnished basement with old worn out carpets. Along one wall stood a fireplace and several pieces of chopped wood. Leaning against the fireplace stood an axe. The blonde entered the room and began pacing back and forth in front of the fireplace before seeing the axe. Suddenly John became the murderer as he picked up the axe and as he turned the victim came into the room behind him, he ran towards the victim swinging the axe wildly through the air. The victim barely got a few steps away before the killer brought the axe down in an arc towards his neck.

"Ok?" Neptune asked as John came out of the vision.

"No I forgot to build my wall. Do you ever see yourself through the killer's eyes?"

"Not very often. Strangely I see it more from the other side. From the victim's eyes. It's easier when you're from the killer's side in my opinion but that's not something you can always control. Let me try." Neptune said stepping up to the dumpster and allowing both hands to hover over the surface for a moment as though searching for the best place then allowing one to touch the surface of the dumpster. Her eyes unfocused and began switching back and forth more and more rapidly until her eyes slowly closed and then suddenly opened still unfocused.

"He doesn't live very far from here. It's his first time killing anyone and he panicked. He keeps saying over and over that he didn't mean it, it was an accident, he's trying to convince himself of it but doesn't fully believe it. J...Jason...his name is Jason." she lifted her hand away from the dumpster and turned towards the end of the alley. Looking around her, eyes still not quite focused on the alley but to something unseen. She began to walk back towards the entrance to the alley ignoring Walt as she passed him and stopping just before reaching the street.

"What's wrong?” John said from behind her

"I can see him." Neptune said. Instantly Walt approached looking for the suspect among the various people on the street before them.

"I don't." John said after stepping forward and scanning the street for any sign of the man he'd seen in his vision.

"Where?" Walt asked not having seen the suspect.

"Not there...here." she said her hand quickly lashing out to brush across John's nearby.



"I can't believe you! Why would you do this? Spite? It was promised to me." John said suddenly taking on the role of the killer, yelling at Neptune who stood in the role of the victim.

"Look mom left me in charge of her affairs because she didn't think she could trust you with something so big. How was she supposed to know that you wouldn't just sell the house to cover your habit?" Neptune said with a coldness that could only come from the person she was seeing through.

"That was 10 years ago Todd. I'm not like that anymore you know that."

"Do I Jason? You were irresponsible then and no doubt are now. I'm keeping the house and everything in it. I was made executor of the will and it's... Where do you think you're going, I'm not finished here!" Neptune yelled as John disappeared down a flight of steps. Moments later she followed searching the rooms in the basement one by one until finding John in one of them standing with his back to the door. Neptune stood in shock as he turned axe in hand trying to run only getting a few steps before the axe found it's mark.

A bloodcurdling shriek wrenched John out of the vision in time to see Neptune drop to the sidewalk hands quickly to her neck as she too came out of the horrific vision gasping for breath. John bent to help her up only to have Neptune raise a hand as though to keep him away.

"Just give me a minute." she said her voice raw

"What the hell just happened?" asked a very confused Walt

"Another shared vision."

"Yes and no." Neptune said shakily getting to her feet. "Why on earth am I the one getting knocked on my ass in these things I ask?"

"I'll trade you the missing time." John countered. Neptune chuckled.

"Fair enough but do I get add my crashed plane to the deal?"

"I don't have a plane to crash unfortunately."

"Ah...right deal's off then I guess." she said then becoming more serious "I'm thinking you now know why it is better to be the killer in these things right? You can always tell yourself you're not that person but experiencing someone else's death isn't as easy to shake. Especially when you can still kind of feel it after the vision is over. But the yes and no of it is I was still in a vision when I reached out to you so I'm not so sure it wasn't more of me pulling you into it rather than an true shared vision."

"But you weren't touching the dumpster anymore."

"No I wasn't but I was already locked into what I was seeing."

"Locked in?"

"I was remoting off the vision."

"Do either of you want to explain what you're talking about or have you forgotten I'm still here?"

"It's not so fun being ignored is it?" she said with a sympathetic smile. "Remoting...aside from being able to have the odd vision, I'm also a remote viewer. I can use one ability to amplify the other. Some people who have visions are remote viewers as well because of the nature of how it all works in the brain. Then there are some people who only see past and future...like moving photographs attached to objects.

"Basically I use the vision to gather the photographs and lock into the present to locate the person or persons involved. When John got pulled into it, the "moving photographs" took precedence and we were caught in that whole re-enactment vision."

"Then why bring me into it?"

"I wanted to show you what I was seeing." She stopped "Hmm I wonder..."

"What?" Walt asked annoyed again

"John, where does Jason live?"

"3320 Maple Drive...wait what? How did you do that?" Neptune laughed at John's confusion.

"I had seen the address on the house while remoting, you must of picked it up subconsciously during the vision."

"You are telling me that is where the suspect lives?" Walt asked incredulously. Neptune nodded

"Jason Felder killed his older brother Todd over a house he was supposed to have been left when their mother died. The older brother decided to keep everything including the house for himself and it got him killed." John said

"Although you should know that Jason didn't plan to kill his brother, he panicked at the thought of losing everything. If you gave it another few days you'd find him either coming in voluntarily or dead from suicide. I can't tell you which because right now I’m seeing both." At the strange looks from both she added "I'd keep an eye on him once you do get him just to be safe."

"You're not coming?"

"Hmm let's see been up all night and most of today and yesterday. The motel I checked into isn't that far from here and if not sleep at least a change of clothes would be nice. Not to mention getting a bite to eat." It took John a moment to realize what she was really admitting to so he couldn't help the shocked expression and slight jaw drop when it finally hit him. A smirk from Neptune prompted him to close his jaw but he couldn't completely remove the shocked expression. No matter what had happened over the past 2 days, he still found it hard to believe vampires actually existed. Especially when they contrasted with everything he'd ever heard of them...which strange to say was complete fiction. He'd seen almost a lifetime's worth of memories in that 5 second touch at his house that even now was still bubbling to the surface in bits and pieces. He saw faces of people he'd never met, heard and strangely enough understood languages he'd never knew about and been witness to some spectacular sights. None of it anything like the Bela Lugosi versions of Dracula or Annie Rice novels. He never once felt a sense of guilt from anything he'd seen from those memories, nor did he sense anything but respect for those strange faces he'd been shown. He realized then that she'd been toying with him when she mentioned getting a bite. She'd seemed surprised when he'd let it known to his future self that he already knew what she was. Surprised because he didn't act any differently once he did find out; something she wasn't used to.

"Alright, fine with me." Walt said starting to head back to his car.

"I think after Jason is brought in I'll probably head home and catch a few winks myself." John said only now realizing just how tired he was.

After Walt and John got into the car and drove off, Neptune began making her way to the motel she'd checked into online.



"You don't like her much do you?" John said once they were well on their way.

"To tell you the truth John, no I don't. I don't know what it is exactly, I just don't trust her."

"Because she's psychic or because she's audacious?"

"Hey I trust you John...it's not about that at all...I don't know. There's just something that doesn't add up about her."

"She does have her reasons, for everything she does. You just can't see them because she keeps them so well guarded."
"And why would she have any reason to hide them John?"

"Fear." The car began to slow as they neared the location and Walt took his eyes from the road for a moment to look at John.

"Now you see...that's what bothers me."




Neptune reached the motel 10 minutes after leaving the alley and found everything in order. The hotel manager was a tad bit annoyed at receiving items for a guest who hadn't even shown up yet but a slight memory adjustment later had him realizing his own mistake; that she had in fact checked in the day before personally. Arriving at her room she went over the items she'd received. A new set of credit cards and id *remembering to take into account that because of the damned plane crash she had to go with her serpentine identity* along with a suitcase worth of new clothes and other assorted paper work including ticket stubs to a plane she'd never actually traveled on. She'd have to thank Aristotle on that one, she hadn't had time on the laptop to arrange to get them herself. Taking the bottles out of the small case that had been delivered with everything else, she wandered over to the minibar and made room for them leaving one out. Taking a glass and picking up the bottle she made her way back to the couch to go over the rest of her paperwork.





It was growing dark outside when John finally awoke to the sound of a ringing phone. He made his way to the phone only to realize the ringing he was hearing wasn't coming from the phone. It abruptly stopped then the phone actually did start to ring. Puzzled he picked it up immediately to hear the sound of laughter on the other end of the line.

"You sure you're not a vampire? I've been trying to call you for the last 15 minutes but apparently you sleep like the dead." Neptune said with a chuckle.

"That was you? What was that?"

"Kind of like a long distance hypnotic suggestion, but not. It doesn't really have a name. Since the actual phone wasn't working I sent you the subconscious idea that it was. It worked didn’t it?"

"Only too well. I only got back a few hours ago."

"Oh...sorry, actually I haven't quite yet nodded off myself so to speak. I just wanted to let you know Jason Felder isn't prone to suicide anymore, at least as far as I can see. Normally I'd just bypass you and tell your friend Walt, but I can tell he really doesn't like me," she said with humour in her voice "Not that I can blame him, law enforcement types are pretty much black and white when it comes to me. Either they are perfectly fine with me or find something undeniably strange and odd about me and it bugs their spidey sense all up until they figure out what it is or I go away."

"Spidey sense?" John said with amusement. It seemed funny somehow to hear a centuries old vampire use pop culture references so easily.

"Intuition. The really good ones have it, some repress it on things like me, others just somehow detect the 'unnaturalness' but can't put their finger on what it is they are detecting. And most never even know they are tapping into something very much like our own abilities at a much more subdued level. Anyway, I'll let you get your sleep. I've kept you awake for too many hours as it is. Oh I almost forgot...in case you have anymore questions my number at the motel, and other contact information should be on your computer by now. I should probably come over later and secure your wireless connection, it's just too damn easy to hack you. Good thing I have morals about that sort of thing...well most of the time."

"So much for that firewall." John sighed into the phone before hanging up.




"You sure do work fast." John said to Neptune as they stood on the tarmac two days later admiring the plane that had arrived hours ago at the Cleves Mills airport.

"Well technically this isn't all my doing...once word of the crash came through, Serpentine immediately sent down a replacement along with filing the various insurance claims . No point in waiting for the insurance seeing as they tend to fight big expenditure like this tooth and nail by taking their sweet time settling the case. Lawyers have to be good for something though." she said with amusement.

"You were on that other plane when it went down." he said trying again to get her to answer how's she'd escaped the crash.

"Yes I was." she said without going any further.

"How did you get off in mid air before the crash?" he said abandoning subtlety

"You didn't see that yet?"

"No and I suppose that's a good thing because if I had seen without knowing I might have actually said something to Walt about it."

"He wouldn't have believed you, you know." she said with a laugh

"Actually that's just the thing...I think he would have. He wouldn't of been able to understand it but he does believe that when I say I saw something that I'm not just lying."

"John...I flew off that plane. I don't care how you try to explain it but seeing me dive off a plane and still remain airborne as it goes down would not go over well. At best he'd think you were seeing a methaphor, at worst he'd think you'd lost it."

"So that one is true!"

"Well I don't turn into a bat if that's what you're wondering...at least my species doesn't." she said slightly rolling her eyes on the last statement.

"Wait...your species?"

"Did you think there's only one kind of vampire in the world?"

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Normally I wouldn't."

"Do you actually try to be this vague or does it come naturally?"

"A little of both actually. Being what I am, I've learned most information is best held back. Normally I wouldn't tell you anything as this kind of information usually means the enforcers get all snippy and give me a hard time about it...in most cases you'd be killed since you can't be whammied and I'd be on probation for a good long time, maybe killed if I were young enough. Information can prove fatal John. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

"Actually no thank you."

"Well you're lucky I'm the one telling you anything. Age does have it's benefits and the enforcers really don't want to bother me when they don't have to so...they let me handle my mortal affairs on my own for the most part. Which means a certain few mortals as I choose can be allowed to keep their knowledge of vampires so long as they don't go telling the world about them and maybe even actually serve a purpose. Not that the world would believe you without empirical evidence but generally, knowledge of vampires in the hands of mortals is usually not something most vampires, enforcers or not like to hear. If I speak for you, no one will touch you as long as you don't go out of your way to expose the community...and John, I'm speaking for you. Your abilities alone make you something worth saving but even more than that if you should ever want to know more, if you should ever want to consider the possibility of seeing if your abilities will surpass my own in under a century, I would be willing to help you join the community."

"You're serious!" John asked incredulously. Neptune nodded.

"A long time ago I was saved by a vampire who saw the potential in me that I now see in you. He made it his life's work to save those few that possessed special abilities because he knew just how much a difference time and experience can make on those abilities. He wanted to save a small few like himself, like me and teach them how to truly harness their gifts and control them. His life's work has become mine. I've only helped you take a few short steps without falling. If someday you want to learn to run, all you have to do is ask. You have a great potential John. I've come across many people over the centuries, over millennia, none of them as powerful as you are now while they were still yet mortal, including myself."

"Millennia..."

"Hey! There you two are." Both turned to see Bruce Lewis approaching. "And there I thought I wasn't ever going to get the chance of meeting the mysterious psychic from abroad."

"Friend of yours?" Neptune asked

"A very good friend actually."

"Well then any friend of yours is most definitely someone to get to know." she said with a smile as Bruce finally met them.

"Bruce Lewis I'd like you introduce you to Anika Wells, although she prefers going by the nickname Neptune...don’t ask; she won't tell."

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I'd hate to cut our first meeting short however I believe need to get back to the office to sign some of the insurance documents for the destroyed plane. However short it was nice to meet you, maybe some other time I'll be able to tell you more than my name." she turned to face the other and smiled. "Do think long and hard about that offer John. You wouldn't be able to undo it if you had a change of heart later on. I actually know someone who's tried for far too long already." Neptune turned towards the plane, seeing her luggage already loaded onboard she began to take the first few steps upward.

"Explain one thing to me." John said halting her progress. "What really happened in that vision I wasn't supposed to see." She looked at John with a smile on her face then retuned to the bottom of the steps and approached him. She stopped inches away from his face and leaned forward to whisper in his ear without touching. Her words startled him at first but then ever so slowly a smile crept it's way onto his face.