“Or what? She, quite clearly, is happy to be here with me. Leave us.”
“Yes, go. I am happy here. I want to stay in this dream,” I say.
“Aefre, this is not a dream, my love,” Constantine says worriedly, and I cast a quick glance at Cole who has a matching expression.
“Yes, it is. It is my dream and I don’t want you two in it. Go.”
“Liv, baby. This is not a dream. That isn’t Fraser,” Cole says, holding his hand up gently.
I look at Fraser, who is looking back at me perplexed. “I am your husband,” he says. “I love you, Emmie.”
“Liv. You are not dreaming, my love. This is real but that isn’t Fraser. You need to get away from him right now.”
I frown at him. “This is a dream,” I insist.
He shakes his head, stepping forward, but again not getting close enough to me to reach me. He holds his hand up carefully as if scared he might frighten me off. “Come to me, Liv.”
“No,” I say. “I want to be with Fraser.” Why does he keep insisting that this is not a dream? I know it is a dream because Fraser is dead. And yet, I can feel him under me now, feel his hands tighten on my hips. I put my hands on his chest to feel him.
“Look at your rings, Liv,” Cole says to me. “Look at them. That is what is real. I love you. We are married. Come here to me, please.”
“This isn’t a dream?” I ask, shaking my head.
Cole and Constantine shake their heads, “No, Liv. This is reality. You need to come to me now.”
“Don’t listen to them. Stay with me,” Fraser says as he plays with my hair to distract me. It does distract me. I don’t look like Emily; I look like Liv. Every time I dream about Fraser I always look like Emily. Every time in the last two hundred and sixty-seven years. I pull away from him confused and scramble to the edge of the bed pulling the sheet up over me.
Fraser sighs. “What gave me away? I was fairly certain I was believable.”
I stare back at him, dumbstruck. This isn’t a dream, this is reality, and I have just been sitting on and kissing The Thirteen who has taken on the guise of my dead husband. I was ready to make love to him and it was all real? My heart breaks as I look at him. “How dare you? How dare you use him to get to me.” I call the sword to my hand, ready to take out this thing that has manipulated me for the last time.
“Oh now, now. We don’t need to go through that again,” he says as he stands up.
“I will kill you for this. I will find the way,” I say through gritted teeth as he stares at me through the eyes of my beloved dead Fraser.
“Not if I get to you first,” he says with a cruel smirk, which just looks wrong on his face, and he disappears. The forcefield goes down and Cole is on me the instant I let the sword go.
“What the hell was that?” he asks me, the terror evident in his voice.
“I was dreaming. Or at least I thought I was. Shit. I can’t even separate my dreams from reality anymore. What the hell?” I pull the sheet up higher in my panic.
“Aefre. Calm down,” CK says as he strokes my arm. “Tell us why you thought it was a dream.”
“I was asleep. Dreaming of Fraser. Not the fake ones, just the usual kind. I opened my eyes and I was looking right at him. I was so sure though that it was a dream.”
“You dream of him like that often?” Cole asks as if he doesn’t really want to know the answer.
“Sometimes,” I admit. “Not that much anymore.”
He looks pained but then adjusts his features. “Well, that’s it. I have had enough of this thing messing with you. You are not to be alone at all until you defeat it. Someone will be next to you at all times.”
“Cole, that isn’t necessary.”
“Yes, it is,” he insists.
“I agree,” CK says. “No arguments,” he adds as he sees me about to do just that.