“Evil? As in…?”
“Evil. I have never felt anything quite like it before. What were you dreaming about?”
I ponder that question briefly. “Erm, I can’t remember how it started but then I was dreaming of Lance.”
“Who is Lance? Another of your…” He waves his hand about.
“Oh, Christ no!” I shout at him in horror at the thought. “He is, was, an evil man. Vampire,” I amend for his benefit. “Long story but I killed him. Last year.”
“What was the dream? Was he hurting you in some way?” he asks, and I wonder why he cares.
“No, not at all. The exact opposite,” I say in confusion, remembering his smile. I don’t think I ever saw a genuine smile on his face, only just a cruel smirk. “We were together at Castelul Negru. Castle Black. Together and happy.” I leave out the part about the baby. That is too private.
“Then why were you screaming?”
“He was leading me to our bedroom, but it was the room where he…” I trail off, not really wanting to tell him my horror story.
“So, in your dream you were happy but then you remembered reality?”
“Yes. Exactly,” I say, and he frowns. “Do you know what is going on?”
“It seems that someone is using magick on you to distort your reality with your dreams. Whatever happened in that room, I assume was bad enough to have triggered a real response from you?”
“You could say that,” I mutter more to myself. “But magick doesn’t work on me. How can someone be manipulating me, my thoughts?” I think to Sebastian’s gift and my eyes go to Cade’s. “You said you didn’t recognize the signature of who was using it?”
He shakes his head. “No, it wasn’t anything I have come across before.”
“So, it wasn’t any one close to me?” I ask hesitantly.
“No, definitely not. You think one of them would try to hurt you?”
“Not intentionally,” I say, hoping I mean it. It can’t be Sebastian. He wouldn’t use Lance to hurt me like that. My hands reach for the cuddly black dragon he gave me, and I hold it to me, having kept it close to me for reasons I can’t quite explain.
“Well, rest assured, it is not one of your own,” he says and pats my hand in a fatherly-type gesture, and it makes me smile. “You should, however, take extra precautions when you go to sleep.” He points to the candles and I light them.
“Thank you, Cade. I’m still tired. Would you stay with me? Just for a bit?”
He looks uncomfortable as he glances at Cole’s side of the bed. “I didn’t mean on the bed,” I say, and he looks relieved as I point to the chair in the corner. “Sure,” he says and gets up to walk over to it as I flop back down, still holding on tightly to the dragon.
I wake up alone and thankfully not having had any more Lance dreams. I just can’t bear the thought of him in my head and us together and happy. Er
gh. It makes me want to be sick.
My Vampire hearing tells me Cade is working at the dining table on the laptop. I go and find him.
He doesn’t look up from his task. “Hey,” he says.
“Hi. What are you doing?”
“I am going through the Regency databases trying to find what is causing your mystery dreams.”
“The Regency databases? How did you get access to those?”
“Constantine gave me the passcodes.”
“He did?” I ask in amazement. “I’m shocked. Wait, you didn’t tell him about this, did you?”
“So am I,” he says with a wry twist to his mouth. “And no, I did not. I am offended that you think I would tell. I told him you asked me to investigate something and fell asleep before you got any further. He seemed to buy it. You must be well known for issuing orders and then crashing,” he chuckles as I bristle at the insult. “He was loathed to at first, but Sebastian told him to ‘quit bitching and give the Hunter bodyguard the codes’.” He chuckles. “Is that what I am? A bodyguard? I am sure that you are more than capable of guarding your own body.”