I awake and roll out of bed. I slip my dressing gown on and prepare to go downstairs for breakfast.

The light is somewhat 'pearly' and I know that I am still dreaming; a dream within a dream.

I sense that the Vampire is close; he has been stalking me for a while now. I get back into bed and swiftly fall asleep again.

I rise refreshed and the light is natural. I will have no trouble with the Vampire now.

Once again, I slip my robe on; no, for the first time, for it was only a dream before.

I am looking forward to breakfast; I can almost smell the sizzling bacon. The birds are beginning to sing, and it is good to be alive.

I descend to the first-floor landing and sense the presence of the Vampire. A shadow passes ominously along the window. His powers are increasing, no doubt of that.

I turn and tiptoe back up the stairs and I pray that he does not hear me. Surreptitiously I clamber under the covers and surrender myself to sleep.

I stir again and I am fully conscious. I have confounded the Vampire; even He cannot keep me asleep forever. A dream within a dream within a dream - clever. He nearly had me in his icy grasp.

I descend the stairs; they feel reassuringly solid. I can actually smell the bacon.

I open the kitchen door. My grandmother is at the stove.

"Morning, did you sleep well?" she inquires.

"Yes, thanks!"

I do not tell her about The Vampire; it would spook her.

I sit down at the table and she places the cooked breakfast in front of me.

"Thank you," I say, then add, "You're dead, aren't you?"

My grandmother has indeed been deceased for over twenty-five years. Why did I not realise that?

"There's someone at the door for you," she says.

Clever. Very clever.

Defeat is close.

Behind the frosted glass panels towers the dark figure of him - the Vampire.

I swing open the door and recognise the features of the Vampire - they are mine.

"What is it you seek from me? To suck out my soul?"

"Why do you run from me? Why do you run from the truth?" he hisses.

"And what is the truth that I must know?"

"You are just a dream, dreaming in the mind of God."

"And what if God wakes-"

I awake. I am in my flat.

It was all indeed just a dream...