Dreamwalker

by Allyson James

  What if? a little voice inside me asked. You get to be with Mick again, living in as much reality as the first time. If you never wake up … so what?

  I had no idea. Would I simply live my life over again? I had an advantage this time—I knew what stupid mistakes I’d make—that is, unless everything faded as it was doing already.

  Would I leave Mick this time, meeting up with him five years later in Magellan? Or would I decide to stay and continue this life, happy in his shadow, my big bad biker who took care of me?

  In the days we’d traveled to get here, however, the memories of my future life ceased to trouble me. By the time Mick closed the door of the Coeur d’Alene motel room against the night, I no longer cared about my hotel at the Crossroads, the mirror, Emmett, choices. I didn’t care about anything but wrapping myself around Mick and hanging on to him.

  We made love all through that evening and into the night, Mick at once gentle and exciting. A cold wind began blowing through the mountains, warning that winter was on its way.

  I woke with a start as the sharp breeze rattled the windows. It was still dark, the sliver of sky I could see through the gap in the curtains lit with moonlight.

  Mick was dressed, sitting on the arm of a chair near the door, pulling on his boots. I glanced at the clock, which told me it was half past twelve.

  “Hey,” I said softly. “Where are you going? Fishing?” I propped myself on my elbow and sent him a smile. Mick didn’t understand the point of fishing, he’d said often enough.

  Mick’s face took on the blank, patient look he’d used often on me, always when he didn’t want to tell me something.

  “I have to go away for a little bit, Janet,” he said carefully.

  I sat up, clutching the sheet to my bare body. On the table next to him I saw a folded piece of paper, the motel’s stationary. A glimmer of memory came back to me. He’d left me a note, which I’d found when I’d awakened after his departure. I wasn’t supposed to have seen him leaving.

  “Go away where?” I asked in alarm. While my memories of my future had dissipated, I knew that Mick striking off on his own always meant trouble.

  “Just a little business I need to take care of, baby.”

  Whenever he’d used this phrase on me, I’d thought, and hoped I was wrong, that he was some kind of criminal. I knew now that he was a long way from that, but in my half-aware, half-remembering state, I was awash with fear. He was taking himself into danger.

  “Let me come with you,” I said quickly, starting to slide out of bed.

  Mick was across the room and pushing me back down faster than I thought he could move. His eyes were turning black. “No, sweetheart. You can’t.”

  “Why not? Tell me where you’re going.” I couldn’t keep the pleading note from my voice.

  “You’ll be fine here. I’ll be gone a couple days, but you can rest and shop or do whatever. No one will bother you.”

  They wouldn’t, because while Mick was friendly, nobody wanted to mess with him, or his woman. They didn’t understand that “his woman” could flatten this entire motel if she had a good enough storm, but that was beside the point. Guys here would leave me alone from fear of and respect for Mick.

  I gripped his forearm. “Don’t go. I don’t like what I’m premonit .. premonishing … is that a word?”

  “It is,” Mick said. “It’s from praemonere, meaning to forewarn.”

  “I’m not joking.” My grip tightened. “I’m not a hysterical woman with a bad feeling. I have some magic too. If all my senses are saying don’t go, maybe you shouldn’t.”

  Mick’s smile was too confident. “I’ll be fine, Janet. I’m a big boy.” The glint in his eye grew, as he thought about just how big he could become. He wouldn’t share this joke with me, because he’d kept his dragon nature from me as long as he could.

  He was determined to leave, and I knew there was nothing I could do about it. Without a storm—the sky was clear and beautiful—I couldn’t draw enough power to stop him. Not that my storm magic ever affected him, in any case.

  Of course, there were ways to make sure he was protected other than a magical battle. I sighed and released him.

  “Just don’t stay away too long,” I said. “Call me if you can.”

  Mick looked relieved. He kissed my forehead. “I will, sweetheart. I love hearing your voice.”

  We didn’t carry cell phones at this time. Mick didn’t like them, and I’d lost every single one I ever had, so we rode around cell-free. He meant that he’d call me on the land line of the motel and knew I’d be around to take the call.

  I pulled him down for a kiss on the lips, but Mick kept it brief. He knew that if he kissed me deeply, he’d give in and stay, at least long enough for a brief round of lovemaking.

  While I wouldn’t mind that, Mick stood up, gave me another dragon smile, and departed.

  As soon as he closed the door, I was up and hauling myself into my clothes. I quickly tied my hair back, pulled on chaps and a leather jacket, snatched up my helmet and gloves, and tore out of the room.

  I’d kept an eye on which way Mick had gone, and in a brief time, I was on my motorcycle, following.

  Chapter Fifteen

  I spied Mick’s big bike on the highway that led south. I hung back, using a glam spell—which Mick had taught me—to keep him from noting me behind him.

  In this way I followed him from the lake and up into the mountains, to a remote area far from any town.

  Mick took a narrow dirt road that led out from the woods into a giant clearing. I stayed back under the trees, knowing I wasn’t good enough to glam Mick too close or out under the moonlit sky.

  The clearing was a defacement from fire or over-logging. Stumps were everywhere as were scattered dead trees, gnarled and twisted like goblins under the white light.

  Mick left his motorcycle near one of the dead trees and hiked out into a more open part of the clearing. He stripped off his gloves and tucked them into his jacket pocket, then stared up at the stars, waiting.

  I killed the engine on my bike, parked it as quietly as I could, and swung off. Wind stirred the woods around me and whispered through the clearing. The dead trees sighed like lost souls.

  I saw the reason, in a few moments, for Mick choosing a clearing. The debris on the open ground started to move as though stirred by a coming storm. There was a storm on the horizon, I’d seen as I’d ridden, thick clouds full of lightning and hail, but that wasn’t what disturbed the peacefulness here.

  A sudden warm downdraft sent shredded bark and leaves to dancing. The trees, dead and alive, groaned with it.

  A black nightmare of a beast plunged downward toward Mick, claws extended. I smothered a yelp and gathered the storm’s energy, ready to blast it.

  Janet in this time had never seen a dragon before. She had no idea dragons existed or that her lover was one. Not something that had ever been at the front of my mind. Cute dragons and unicorn toys had been completely absent from the house where I’d grown up. Grandmother had known all about dragons—Firewalkers—and knew they weren’t the cuddly plush toys sold in discount chains.

  Which made me wonder distractedly—were unicorns real too? And if so, what kind of horrible monsters were they?

  A flash of my future life came to me as the dragon landed. I’d seen this particular one before—black as soot, with an aura as smoky. He beat his wings once more, then he swerved, landed on the other side of the giant clearing, and disappeared behind a black mist.

  When the mist cleared, Drake walked across the clearing toward Mick, as tall and arrogant as ever. Dragons aged very slowly, and Drake hadn’t changed at all.

  I gathered a bit of the storm to me. I wasn’t as adept at containing my magic at this age as I learned to be later, but Mick had already taught me to draw on my earth-magic background to do small spells. I clumsily but effectively tossed a bit of magic at Mick and Drake, enabling me to hear them across the clearing.

  Drake’s
voice came to me as though I’d switched on a radio. “—were not your instructions. The Dragon Council made clear—”

  “The Dragon Council can kiss my ass,” Mick growled. “They sent me because no one else was brave enough to face her. Or they were too lazy to get out of their caves. Good thing. She could wipe the floor with all of you.”

  “Exactly.” Drake sounded as stuffy as ever. “Which makes me wonder why you disobeyed a direct order to kill her.”

  Mick barked a laugh. “First, she’s a hell of a lot prettier than any of you. More interesting too. Second, she’s not evil.”

  “That’s not for you to judge. She bears the taint of the Beneath goddess the dragons took so much trouble to shut away. She must not be allowed to release that goddess.”

  “She won’t,” Mick said with conviction. “She’s an extraordinary woman, with a kindness and generosity I’ve found in very few. I’ve definitely never found it in dragons.”

  Drake made a scoffing noise. “She’s seduced you.”

  “No, I seduced her.” Mick took a menacing step toward Drake. “I did my best to take away everything that is innocent in her, to find out if her gentle heart was only naiveté. I’ve had her every way I could invent, and she’s hungry for it. But you know what? She’s still innocent. And loving.” Mick shook his head, his voice going soft. “I never dreamed she would be so loving. She gives her heart as she gives her body. She amazes me every day.”

  I listened, my lips parting, cold night air drying my mouth. Mick’s last two sentences were delivered in a quiet tone that was filled with wonder. I remembered lying with Mick in the sunshine in the dragon compound in Santa Fe, after the dragons had captured me. He’d smiled at me, his dark eyes full of fire, and said I want to be here to watch you grow.

  Tears stung my eyes. Mick’s mission, given to him by the Dragon Council, had been to find me, discover how dangerous I was, and then to destroy me. He’d volunteered for the duty, knowing how lethal the woman who’d created me could be.

  For not killing me, for falling in love with me and fighting to let me live out my life, the dragons had sentenced him to death.

  “You can’t disobey the Dragon Council, Micalerianicum,” Drake said coldly. “Your orders were to destroy the threat.”

  “My orders were to find the threat and contain it,” Mick said sternly. “I have. She’s not a threat to the dragons. Tell Bancroft and his cronies to eat it.”

  Drake went silent a moment before he said in a quieter voice, “I advise you not to defy them. They can be ruthless.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m sending you, their errand boy, back to them.” Mick stepped to Drake and prodded his forefinger into Drake’s bare chest. “Tell them that Janet Begay is under my protection now.”

  Drake hissed a breath. “You can’t.”

  “I can. I already have. They are not to touch her. I will watch over her and make sure she does no harm—and that no harm comes to her. Tell the three pains in my ass to back off.”

  “Don’t be a fool,” Drake exclaimed, more distressed than I’d ever seen him. “If she has tricked you, you’ll pay with your life.”

  Mick shrugged. “If I’m wrong and she goes on a rampage, then I’ll deserve to die.”

  The words tore at my heart. Mick was putting his life on the line for me, in this clearing high in the mountains. When it had happened, I’d been oblivious, and I’d grown angry at him for leaving me to wait in the motel room.

  I’d lost my patience with him and his mysterious disappearances after a while and left him. He’d watched over me even then, protecting me from harm, and I’d never known.

  This time, I was fully aware. My memories of the future came flooding back to me—maybe because in this dream I was doing what I hadn’t done in real life. Those memories hurt, and made me love Mick even more.

  “I’m sorry, Micalerianicum,” Drake was saying as I wiped my eyes. “But they won’t allow that to happen.”

  I jolted to alertness, pressing aside my warm ideas of how I’d show Mick how much I appreciated him. Drake was looking at the sky, and Mick jerked his head up to stare.

  More downdrafts of wind rattled through the clearing. One of the dead trees shuddered and slowly toppled, the sound of its passing smothered by the whooshing of leathery wings.

  Two dragons touched down, which again, I’d seen in my future. One was black; the other, pure white. The white one I’d seen only once. Her name was Aine, she was one-third of the Dragon Council, and she was a cold-hearted bitch.

  The other was Bancroft, who lived in the dragon compound in Santa Fe and gave Drake orders. Drake wasn’t part of the council—he was Bancroft’s flunky.

  I didn’t waste time wondering why Bancroft and Aine had come. Whatever their reason, it couldn’t be good. I didn’t like Drake’s words, or the sorrowful tone in which he spoke them.

  I ran forward, screw trying to be secretive. The only thing that could take down a dragon, short of a god, was another dragon.

  There were three dragons against Mick. He was good, but I didn’t like those odds.

  The dragons were so busy drawing themselves up and being arrogant that they never saw me coming at them until Drake swung around. His dark eyes widened and a look of vast puzzlement came over his face.

  “You aren’t supposed to be here,” he said in confusion.

  I ignored him. “Stay the hell away from him!” I yelled at Aine and Bancroft. “Go crawl back into whatever volcano spawned you and leave us alone!”

  Mick had spun as soon as he heard my voice. “Janet, what the fuck?”

  I grabbed his hands and hung on. “They’ll kill you. If you protect me, they’ll condemn you to death. Go and let me deal with them.”

  Mick looked at me like I’d gone crazy, and I couldn’t fault him. I hadn’t yet learned to tap the Beneath power in me—I could barely control the Stormwalker.

  But the Beneath power was there. I could feel it stirring deep in my blood, eager to come out. Bancroft and Aine must have sensed it too, because they drew back, dragon heads ready to strike.

  “Drake.” Mick snarled the word as he pushed me forcefully to him. “Protect her.”

  He swung away from us and began running, making for the widest part of the clearing. I started after him, but Drake’s hand, wickedly strong, jerked me back.

  “It’s his fight, Janet,” he said in a low voice. “And he’s highly trained.”

  Mick had vanished behind a cloud of darkness and now rose as a dragon, black shot with red, like his aura. The other two dragons hadn’t attacked before Mick could change—they’d never dream of besting him unfairly.

  Dragons, Mick had once told me, were all about honor. Me, they’d crush into a smear and not care. But then, I wasn’t dragon.

  Is this what had happened while I’d waited, ignorant and worried, in the lakeside motel room, for Mick’s return? Had he fought two members of the Dragon Council and won his way free of them? Dragon issues were so strange that maybe he had to go through this fight before they’d agree that I was under Mick’s parole.

  Why didn’t that feel right?

  The black dragon and the white hit the air then split left and right to flank Mick and dive at him from two sides. Hot air pumped over Drake and me on the ground as fireballs shot out of all three dragons at once.

  I gathered my strength. The storm on the edges of the mountains crackled pleasantly with electricity, and I drew all of it into me.

  In this space and time, I hadn’t been in control of my magics. But the Janet who was dreaming had worked very hard in the ensuing years to conquer them.

  I’d also learned how to touch the Beneath magic in me. Here, far from any vortex that contained my mother, I could draw on it without fear of awakening her. I balled my fists, reaching for the power Mick and others had taught me to tame.

  I found it, the Beneath magic raw and waiting, gleefully willing me to bring it forth. I wrapped my senses around the storm, gathered ligh
tning in my fingers, and wrapped it around a ball of Beneath magic.

  Drake’s hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Janet, no! Let it play out.”

  “Are you kidding me?” My fingers danced with fire, and I jerked from him. “They’ll kill him. Why don’t you help him?”

  “Because I can’t.” Drake’s jaw tightened, and I saw anguish in his eyes. “This is the way it happened. We have to let it.”

  I stared at him in sudden shock. I’d been so distracted with worry for Mick that I missed how Drake had been acting since I’d run up to them. Not as though he’d never seen me before and believed me evil incarnate, but as though he already knew me. He’d called me by name and had given Mick tacit agreement to keep me safe while the three dragons battled it out.

  But this was my dream—my dream of the past. Drake hadn’t known me a this time. He’d only met me when Bancroft kidnapped me and locked me in the dragon compound a year ago. At that time, both Bancroft and Drake had been convinced that I’d been born to end the world.

  Why did he act as though he knew me now?

  I narrowed my eyes. “You burned down my saloon.”

  Drake switched his dark gaze to me, his brows shooting together. “I paid to have it rebuilt. And you should not know that.”

  “I do know that. You do it six years from this time. I’m dreaming this … I think.”

  “No, this is my dream,” Drake said. “My memories of this night.”

  I stared at him again. “Well, this is a hell of a thing.”

  “Anything can happen in a dream,” Drake said, looking stubborn. “Because you talk of a shared experience in our future does not mean I am not dreaming. Dreams can juxtapose many things, past and present, memories and wishes, hopes and fears.”

  “You studied psychology in college, did you?” I asked testily. “I’m beginning to think this isn’t a shared dream, but an alternate reality.”

  “There is no such thing as an alternate reality,” Drake countered.

  “Actually, the idea of multiple universes is studied seriously in quantum physics. So Mick tells me. But that’s not what I mean. This is magic. I suspect Emmett has something to do with it.”