Mary narrowed her eyes.

Mary: "Wait a minute, what was James doing in close physical contact with a coma patient?"

Abigail smiled to herself.

Abigail: "It would only need to be a momentary encounter for the bond to take hold."
Mary: "Uh huh, I'll bet."

Emily jabbed Mary in the ribs.

Emily: "What do we need to do?"
Abigail: "We must find this coma patient. Physical contact with her waking body will be needed for you to enter the dream world."

Mary opened her mouth, but Abigail put her hand up before she could speak.

Abigail: "No Mary, you will not all need to camp out in her hospital room. A lock of hair will do."

Mary nodded and headed out the door.

Mary: "I'll go find the scissors."

Abigail: "Markus and I will gather the rest of the materials we will need. Tristan, Emily- stay with James. It is important that he not be left alone; the presence of friends will help to keep him bound to this world."

Tristan: "Emily - could you find us more blankets, and maybe some pillows? I really have no idea where James keeps them, so if you don't have any luck, just strip the guest beds."

Emily nodded, glad to have something to do, and left in search of bedding. Tristan turned to Abigail.

Tristan: "How serious is this? Can his bond to his body be broken?"
Abigail: "There is a chance he won't come out of this. A human in this condition would have but a day or two before the bond between body and soul is broken, and the soul left the dream world for the afterlife."

Markus: "But…"
Abigail: "A vampire's soul cannot move on after death, and the bond between a vampire's body and soul is far more difficult to break."
Tristan: "So that's one thing in our favour."

Abigail looked down and paused for a long moment before looking up and meeting Tristan's eye again.

Abigail: "As I said, a mortal would die in a matter of days. It is an unnatural state of rest, and the brain is not equipped to deal with the two realities. As a result, the brain shuts down, and the mortal dies."

Markus let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd been holding in a rush of air.

Markus: "And a vampire would simply experience massive brain damage."
Abigail: "A vampire's physiology would allow some of it to be repaired. But if James remains in this state, he will soon lose his ability to determine what is real and what isn't. If awakened, his dream world and his waking world will overlap. To put it simply, he'll be quite mad."

Tristan: "How much time do we have?"
Abigail: "It depends on if, and at what point, he realizes he is dreaming. The longer he goes without being lucid, the worse the damage. We could have anywhere from 24 to 48 hours after he first fell asleep."
Tristan: "And if he…"
Abigail: "A vampire cannot move on. If the connection from soul to body is broken, his soul will be trapped in someone else's dream world."

Abigail: "It will keep that world open, and even the death of the coma patient will not close it - it will remain open for both souls, for eternity."
Mary: "Wow, for James' sake I sure hope she's a hottie."

Tristan and Markus jumped at the sound of Mary's voice from the doorway.

Markus: "How long have you been standing there?"
Mary: "Not long enough to overhear your deepest darkest secrets, apparently. Hopefully there weren't embarrassing nicknames involved. I just wanted to tell you guys I'm leaving for the hospital. I've got my cell, I'll call you and Emily when I know anything."
Markus: "Good. Nana, we'd better get going as well. Tristan - we'll call."