Dream Eater, page 13
Interestingly, it was the same man who had been her brother in her previous life. Her parents were different, though, which was odd when you considered genetics. I supposed reincarnation defied what we knew about science.
“Hey,” the man said, his tone friendly while he regarded me with suspicion. I had an urge to laugh at the contradiction. It was exactly the kind of thing he would have done in the past.
“Hello. I’m Wren, Lily’s boss.” I put my hand out and he gave it a firm shake.
“I’m her brother, Mason.” He stepped back and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “It’s a little odd for a boss to visit the homes of his employees, wouldn’t you say?”
“I ran into her outside and offered to take her to lunch. However, she drank too much last night and is feeling under the weather. I left because she fell asleep.”
His brows scrunched together. “She fell asleep with you in there?”
“Yes.” I started to walk backwards away from him. “She had a headache, so I rubbed her head for her and she fell asleep.”
It took but a moment for a light bulb to go on within him, and it was clear by his expression that he had all the information he needed to determine my intentions.
“Don’t fuck with her. She’s been through enough,” he said.
“I won’t.” I smiled, ignoring the guilt I kept pretending wasn’t there.
After I went home and changed, I met up with Mara at the bar.
When I walked inside and spotted her in a booth, I could see that she was still angry. Not that I was surprised after the little show her and Zazel had put on at the club.
Sitting down across from her, I said, “Still angry at Zazel, I see.”
“It’s not just him, but since you brought him up… He couldn’t even manage to be normal for a few minutes when in the presence of a human who knows nothing of our dealings.” She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “I had to erase most of the exchange from her memory, and she probably feels like a brick was dropped on her head today.”
“Yes, she does. I saw her this afternoon, and she was an absolute wreck.” I signaled to a waitress and she nodded before grabbing the bourbon that had been set on the bar for me.
“Mr. Everly,” she said, her tone flirtatious. She had tried on many occasions to get me to take her home, but I wasn’t interested.
Without looking at her, I said, “Thank you.”
“I feel terrible,” Mara said once the waitress was gone. “She’s going to find out anyway, and sooner rather than later. But I didn’t want her to find out like that.”
“Understandable. But now you will have to tell her how you invaded her mind and erased pieces of her memory.”
“Invaded?” She pinned me with a look of annoyance. “You’re one to talk.”
“That I am. I ‘invaded’ her dreams today.”
“She’s sleeping already?”
“She allowed me to rub her head and neck, and I helped her fall asleep.” Fiddling with the ring on my pointer finger, I thought of how the memory had changed. I reasoned it must’ve been who she was today influencing her responses. It made me curious about how many things could be different this time around.
“She let you do that!” She leaned across the table and bumped into her glass. “She must be out of her mind today.”
“I like it when she doesn’t think. It makes things easier.”
“Here you go again, pretending to be the villain.”
“I don’t know what I am in all this, because there are moments when I just want her to be mine. But then there are other moments when I’m overrun with emotions, and I recall with great clarity the pain she caused me. What am I to do? It’s not like we could ever be together again, but I fall prey to my lust constantly. So, if she is willing, why can’t I sleep with her and move on?”
“Because you won’t be able to just sleep with her and move on. It won’t work out like that. Besides, you could be together again if you would only forgive her.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“Don’t annoy me. Not today.”
“Why are you so angry?” I asked.
Absentmindedly, she began to trace swirls onto the table as she gazed at the bar. Red, sparkling loops disappeared as she created new ones.
“You’re drawing on the table,” I said as a waitress neared us.
Stopping, she looked at the table as the most recent swirl disappeared. The fact that she kept casually slipping with her magic was indicative of the level of stress she was experiencing.
“I wish I had never met him.”
“Zazel?”
“Of course.”
“You mustn’t say that,” I began, “because had you not, you would’ve stayed dead, and you wouldn’t have been there to save me. We wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”
“You don’t know that. Fate works in mysterious ways.”
“Wishful thinking.” Taking a moment to have a sip of bourbon, I thought of what I should say. “Did you see Zazel today?”
“Of course. After what I had to do last night, he knew I would go to him.”
“That’s exactly why he did it.” It was interesting how easily she played into his games. “And what good did it do? He is unwavering. Your harsh words meant nothing to him.”
“I may not know how to change his mind or convince him to let me go, but I know how to upset him.”
“You went there for revenge?” I gave her a knowing look.
“This is not the same as with you and Lily.” She slammed her hand on the table. “He took my fucking soul, Wren.”
“And she broke my fucking heart, Mara. So, why can I not also crave revenge?”
“Because you crave her far more, dumbass.” She drank the rest of the liquid from her glass and slammed it down.
“Such foul words.” I shook my head when the glass cracked. “You might as well buy them a whole new set of glasses at this point.”
“We always tip generously.” She stood and strung her beaded purse over her shoulder. “I don’t want to talk about any more of this right now. Come, we have a soul to catch.”
“What?” I quickly finished my drink. “You’ve found one already? Is Seattle the new hot spot for degeneracy?”
“He’s not a local.” I followed her outside the bar and down a dark alley. “It appears he is here on a business trip.”
“I see.” We walked a few blocks, sticking to the alleyways when we could. But I wasn’t sure what the secrecy was for, since it was impossible for us to be caught. Well, for me to be caught.
“This isn’t a hotel,” I said when we stopped outside of an old brick building.
“He’s staying with family.” She leaned against the building. “I obviously can’t go in there unseen. So, can you please do your best to ascertain the quality of his soul, use sleep paralysis on him, and carry him down here for me, if need be?”
“With pleasure.” As anticipation curled in my stomach, I cloaked myself and walked through the brick wall. Pausing on the other side, I closed my eyes and listened closely to the dark voices to determine where the man was.
Taking the stairs to the fifth floor, I moved swiftly. As I entered the apartment and looked around, I heard a male voice.
“I missed you,” he said, and I could tell he was my guy. “You’ve been such a good girl, keeping how much Uncle loves you a secret.”
What the fuck?
Rushing down the hallway, I slipped through door after door, seeing a woman in her thirties fast asleep in one room, and in another, two boys sleeping on a bunk bed. Another room was clearly a guest room, where I assumed the man I could hear was supposed to be.
Rage filled me when I stepped into the last room. I took in the pink walls, scattering of toys, and the canopied bed quickly.
Focusing on the minds of the man and the girl, I said, “Sleep.”
Since I was able to move people with my mind when they were under my spell, I pulled the man towards me and left him floating in the center of the room.
I was grateful that he was fully dressed, even though it didn’t change anything. I didn’t need to see it to know what was happening.
Walking up to the bed, I looked down at the little girl, who was dressed in a pink, ruffled nightgown. I pulled the nightgown back down, covering her legs, and pulled the blanket up to her chin.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart.”
Chapter 13
Wren
After I tucked the little girl in, I approached the man and reluctantly touched his arm. I slipped inside his mind as he was dreaming about being dragged down the hallway by his mom.
“No, Mommy. Please!”
Not wanting to see what that was leading to, because I already felt sick to my stomach, I ate the dream. Once it was gone, I was filled with the dark energy only nightmares could give.
Though I felt a modicum of empathy for the boy he used to be, because it was clear something terrible had happened to him, I couldn’t muster an ounce of sympathy for the man he had become. No matter what horrors we lived through, we still had a choice to not put others through the same thing.
At my behest, a bedroom formed around us, and I put the man in the bed. He was asleep, a smile on his face as he dreamed about something that made him happy. Again, I didn’t even want to see what it was.
Remaining invisible, I approached him. I walked around the bed, bumped into it repeatedly, and made scratching noises on the floor. His mind became aware, and he became frightened.
He couldn’t speak out loud; no one could during sleep paralysis unless I let them. But I still heard their inner pleas and the urgency they felt to wake themselves up.
They always realized they were sleeping and knew they were trapped. I had never experienced sleep paralysis, but I understood how scary it must have been.
Help! Help! Someone, please help me!
“No one is going to help you,” I said, my voice dark and menacing. I ran my hand up his leg and grabbed his calf, allowing him to open his eyes and see.
His beady brown eyes peered down at his leg when I threw back the blanket. He couldn’t see me, but he could feel the sharp points of my claws digging into his flesh.
No! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!
“Aw, are you scared?” Yanking him down the bed, I relished the sound of his screams. I dragged him to the floor, then sent him flying into a wall.
Making myself visible, I took on the shape of a creature who crawled on all fours, whose limbs were long and thin, and whose eyes glowed red above a set of sharp teeth.
As I crawled up the wall, he watched without moving. Beads of sweat dripped down his wrinkled forehead. He pissed himself when I stopped on the ceiling and snapped my head around to look down at him.
His fear filled me, and I felt fully energized. My flickering soul, which needed the energy, shone brightly.
Sometimes I longed to give myself over to the darkness, knowing how powerful and fulfilled it made me. But I couldn’t bring myself to torture innocent people in their sleep, even if I couldn’t hurt them for real. I remembered nightmares from when I was human. I knew how they could drain one’s energy and make one afraid to sleep. So, I saved the worst of my horror-filled imaginations for those who were deserving of them.
The man’s soul was thriving on his fear. The dark voices were screaming out for more. As far as I could tell, it was fully tainted, shrouded in a blanket of darkness. But that aside, he was a wicked man with a taste for children, and that was all I needed to know.
Just when his heartbeat began to slow, I fell atop him, cutting off his scream when I ripped open his throat. Blood sprayed across my face and slid down my throat, and I ignored the vileness of the taste.
You’d think inside dreams you wouldn’t be able to taste the true flavor of things, but dreams were a reality of sorts that existed in the mind. Everything had texture, flavor, and smell.
As I looked down at him, I felt nothing.
He wasn’t truly dead, but he was about to be.
It wasn’t that I thought people like him didn’t deserve help, or that there was only one way to get justice. It was that his soul appeared too dark to even consider a different kind of justice. There was no room for redemption within it. Even if he got help, it wouldn’t be enough, for he was destined to harm and create chaos.
Tired of looking at his lifeless form, I let the dream slip away.
After I dropped off the man’s body, I intended to visit the girl in her dream, so I kept her under my spell.
Once outside, I made myself visible to Mara and flung the man’s body against the building.
As he slid down the wall, he groaned, waking up.
“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, looking down at the man as he clutched his head.
“Where is Zazel?” I asked, unconcerned with her concern. I wasn’t in the mood for her bleeding heart.
“I haven’t called him yet. I wanted to be sure first.” She rushed over to the man and inspected his wound.
“No need. I have little doubt that his soul is newly dark.”
She put her hands on her hips and shot me a displeased look. “It does seem that way. But I wish we weren’t encountering so many iffy souls... Where are the sure things?”
“I truly believe this man is a sure thing. Either way, even if he isn’t, his soul is nearly consumed, and he needs to be dealt with. Call Zazel.” When the man tried to stand, I kicked him and his body slammed into the wall again. “Now.”
I’d call him myself, but I didn’t have my phone on me.
“What happened?” She looked down at him as worry pinched her brow.
“If you don’t call Zazel this instant, I shall rip this man to pieces, regardless of his soul’s nature. Then, if he is reborn with a dark soul, I will find him and fucking do it again before he has a chance to touch another child. And if for some reason I’m not quick enough, just know that it was your indecision that led to another innocent suffering needlessly.”
We were standing in the middle of an alleyway that connected to two streets, and if we didn’t hurry, someone would see. We would lose our chance to deal with the man, and I wasn’t about to risk letting him slip through my fingers. I would kill him to save that girl, even if it meant his soul would get recycled.
She called Zazel and said, “I need you.” She hung up after giving him an address.
When the guy tried to speak, I put him back into a sleep paralysis. The last thing I wanted was to listen to him beg for help again or make excuses.
“What happened in there?” she asked.
“I walked in on him touching his niece.” I gave her a pointed look. “It wasn’t the first time, either. And understand me well when I say his soul is pure evil, and we cannot wait a day longer to deal with him while you come to terms with your guilt. This is not a mistake. You must find within yourself the ability to let go when they are this far gone. That little girl, and any who would have come after her, deserve our protection. What good are the adults of this world if they cannot protect innocent children?”
A tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it away quickly when Zazel materialized on the other side of the alley. “Thank you, Wren. For everything.”
Patting the top of her head, I smiled. I knew it wasn’t an easy thing, not even for me. But it was how things were done.
“What do we have here? A freshly consumed dark soul that slipped by me unnoticed,” Zazel said.
It made me happy that I had guessed right that time. But again, it didn’t matter, because no matter what, we couldn’t have let the man go on as he was. There was no doubt that he was quickly succumbing to darkness, if not already consumed.
“He’s from out of town.” Mara quickly scanned Zazel’s entire being before she schooled her features into a look of annoyance.
“I see.” Zazel looked down at the man with otherworldly eyes. “Wren, I see you had some fun with him.”
Nodding, I frowned at his attire. “Your clothes are a bit outdated, my friend.”
He was wearing a layered black skirt that was held up by an intricate black belt made from a hard material. It was decorated with black jewels and tiny spikes, just like the arm bands that circled his biceps. It all looked incredibly uncomfortable.
“However true that may be, this is what I have always been most comfortable in.” His eyes flicked to Mara, a cocky grin on his face. “Besides, the ladies love it.”
She rolled her eyes and looked at the ground.
Zazel and I both laughed until his head perked up and he looked down the alley.
“People are walking this way, so I will take him with me now.” He looked to Mara. “That’s eleven, though I’m not convinced this should count. You led Wren here, but you were still plagued with indecision, weren’t you?”
“Yes, I was,” she said. “Wren threatened to kill him if I didn’t call you. But you don’t know that after hearing what he saw, I wouldn’t have made that decision for myself.”
Zazel studied her a moment before he nodded. “Eleven it is. I like to think this one was obvious, so I have faith that you would have made the proper decision.”
“Thank you.”
Zazel grabbed the man by his throat without touching him and started to walk down the alley, and seconds later he turned into a cloud of wispy black smoke and disappeared.
“I wish I could teleport.” Or do anything else, really. All I had was excessive strength, cloaking capabilities, and two sleep spells in my arsenal.
“At least you can make yourself invisible. That’s got to be handy.”
“You could, too, if you spent more time practicing spells. I don’t understand how you can erase memories, but you can’t become invisible.”
“I didn’t say that because I was envious of your ability. I was pointing out something useful that you can do! I told you I’ve been practicing, but I practice more useful spells first. Why would I work on invisibility when I have you to fetch the occasional soul that needs fetching?”
“That’s reasonable… My apologies.”
“Forgiven,” she said as she started to walk away. “But I’m not in the mood for you tonight.”
