by Jen Robyn
“If you will excuse me, sir!” she added coldly with finality, pushing past him to walk towards the steps.
As she took a preemptory glance towards the garden terrace, she was surprised to see it empty. Apparently the other guests were all inside the building now. Despite their highbred nature, for once, Julianna found that she couldn’t wait to join the safety of them again.
But as her foot barely touched the first step, she found herself spun about to face Dominick again, his hands gripping her arms. There was hurt in his eyes, almost akin to anger, that left her shivering in his grasp, but she was too startled to speak.
“You’re wrong on all counts, my lady,” he said firmly. I didn’t kiss you to take advantage of you, Julianna, and it certainly has nothing to do with pity. I kissed you because I find you to be a fascinating, attractive, and desirable woman. One who just needs the right man to prove how true this is.”
“I don’t need anyone!” she countered, glaring at him. “Especially not...”
Dominick kissed her to silence, leaning her head back against his hand as he did.
I should have known better than to trust him even for a moment! she thought, just before she felt a gentle voice—his voice—touch her mind.
I would never do anything to hurt you, Julianna. You need to know that.
Confusion filled her eyes, even as his kisses became tender, once again stirring up odd fluttery sensations within her. How are you reading my thoughts?
Magic.
When she realized that he wasn’t about to release her, Julianna felt a renewed wave of panic. She was trapped all alone, held captive in the arms of a stranger who had fairly clear motives.
She felt his soft laughter in her mind. You know it is possible for a man to kiss a woman merely to share that pleasure alone.
Trying to escape his words, Julianna knew she should yell for assistance from the guests in the building, since surely one would hear her. Or maybe she should kick him while he was distracted to break free… after all, it had worked with the other Dominick.
His voice persisted undaunted. Do you have any idea how wonderful it is just to kiss you? Tempting though it is to want more, a true man listens to his lady’s heart.
Her inner arguments faltering, she knew that she should be freezing in this gown, so then why did she feel so warm?
What you feel is a feeling we share. You don’t need to run from it this time.
She trembled against him, but this time because she realized the truth of his words.
“Dominick…” she whispered against his mouth, her arms encircling his neck to pull him closer. It was nearly amusing the way he all but jumped with surprise, upon realizing she wasn’t backing away. A surprise that didn’t faze him for long as he lifted her off the ground.
I’m here, my sweet sprite.
Deepening his kiss, Dominick gently parted Julianna’s lips to touch her more intimately. She felt a shiver run through her again, stronger than before, an odd sound escaping her as she felt his arms surround her more completely to lower her against the steps.
Feeling the edge of the stairs against her back brought a slight gasp from her, but Dominick was instantly beside her, his arms cradling her close against him, making her feel like she was floating. His caresses were so warm and soothing against the fabric of the gown that seemed to just lightly cover her skin. And his kisses set her whole being afire.
When he finally pulled back to gaze at her, his eyes were tender.
“Julianna… how could any man be unmoved by you?” he murmured.
She smiled, a slight laugh bubbling up which earned his curiosity. “Not so yourself, sir,” she told him lightly.
He echoed the smile back into her eyes, amusement lighting his features, despite the raggedness of his breathing. “Even with the fires of passion kindled between us, am I to be reduced to remaining forevermore ‘Sir’ to you?” She laughed again, before a more serious smile stole through.
“Dominick,” she amended. “Or would Sir Dominick suit you better?”
“Ah, back to playing the knight in shining armor, am I?”
“Perhaps. Although armor is cold, whereas you certainly are not,” she said teasingly. “I think you should stick to the title of knight and forget the rest.”
“And are you to be the damsel in distress?”
“Hmmm, I’d rather be just a damsel in this dress. But you seem warm enough to play the part of the dragon.”
“What an interesting idea,” he replied, growling in a deep voice as he kissed her neck.
She gave a quick squeak of laughter, just before he returned more serious attention to kissing her mouth again. Julianna barely managed to stifle the urge to laugh again upon thinking of how silly it would seem for the dragon to be kissing the damsel.
He quickly saw to replacing her amusement with desire, his arms’ hold on her waist tightening while his other hand edged the gown off one shoulder. Her breathing quickened as he kissed her bare skin there, the feeling sending her pulse racing.
“Julianna... my dear sweet Julianna,” he murmured, his voice little more than a whisper against her cheek as he kissed her again.
She smiled against him, even as she suddenly felt an odd cottony sensation pulling her senses away. Her eyes expressed apprehension as her vision of Dominick became strangely blurred, growing steadily worse.
“Dominick, what...?” she gasped suddenly, clutching him fiercely, her eyes questioning him. If his expression held an answer, it was lost to her due to a sudden brightness obscuring her vision.
The last thing she felt was his grip tightening on her, while his voice shouted out her name, nearly in desperation, “Julianna!”
*****
Her eyes popped open, and she found herself alone again in the darkness of her room, where the sun’s rays were now burning it away. Rays that had been resting on her eyelids long enough to wake her.
“What?” she gasped, bolting upright.
The sound of birds chirping outside was her only reply.
“It was all a dream?” she whispered in disbelief, not disregarding her strangely racing heart. After blinking a few times at the sunlight, she brushed a hand against her mouth tentatively. She could almost feel the memory of Dominick’s kisses, and that alone seemed very strange, since it was all an illusion. One that certainly seemed real moments ago, yet...
It was just a dream.
Of course this was just as well, she supposed, since she could now remember quite vividly the last part of her dream where she’d wantonly given herself up freely to Dominick’s warm embrace. If she hadn’t woke up when she did, they might have...
Yes, they ‘might have’ indeed!
“Damn,” she murmured regretfully.
Chapter Three
“Damn!” echoed the frustrated Dominick, upon returning to his own realm. After an ensuing set of angry curses, he wasn’t too surprised to hear the familiar mocking laughter of his annoying elder brother. Glancing over to the far wall of his room, his eyes narrowed. “I’ll thank you to keep your amusement to a minimum, Riff!”
Sitting opposite him casually, his brother coolly ignored the warning, as he would with anyone else. But to be fair, in the name of blood relations, he treated Dominick with some respect... using his most irritating pranks on him instead.
As far as Dominick was concerned, the only similarity between them was their appearance. Even though Riff was three years older than Dominick’s twenty-seven years, he and his brother shared nearly the same face. Unlike Dominick’s wavy hair though, Riff’s own was fairly straight, and unlike his brother’s deep blue eyes, Riff’s were an emerald green.
Those eyes combined with Riff’s expression were often mirthful, especially at times like this. Due to his capability for endless troublesome shenanigans, some had dubbed him Riff-Raff. Only his enemies spitefully used this other name, which always earned them a dose of fistfights in return for their understanding. His friends and family knew better, and would only r
efer to him as Riff.
At the moment, he appraised his brother with curiosity. “No can do, Bro,” he said cheerfully. “At least, not until you tell me all the details. Was this one pretty, Phase?”
Phase?
Dominick started for a moment, before shaking his head to clear it. Remembrance came swiftly towards his middle name Phaser, which his brother and father frequently used. As an occasional after-effect of using his special powers to travel into the mind of an extremely distant person, once again, he’d experienced memory lag upon returning. It didn’t always happen, and some might consider the side effect laughable; but in truth, it wasn’t pleasant for the person experiencing it. Still, since it was infrequent, he wasn’t about to let it faze him now.
While an unusual name in many outer regions, Phaser was an accepted name for a supernatural living on the mist-concealed island of Barokka. The island was comprised mainly of supernaturals, a race of people who were gifted with inborn magic abilities. Whether bearing one magic ability or two, sometimes a supernatural would have a separate name based on an ability or a personality trait, in addition to having a second more ordinary name. Some of the supernaturals preferred the added distinction.
Although Riff didn’t have an alternate name, his own was actually a nickname. He’d once sworn he’d never reveal his true name to anyone outside of his immediate family. Though they disagreed, even Dominick would never break that trust.
Dominick’s names emerged from a parental disagreement, where his father wanted to name him Phaser after his supernatural ability known as dreamphasing, while his mother preferred the name Dominick. Hence, he was born Dominick Phaser Westbrooke. His father was only mollified by this decision when his mother said that she’d chosen to give their son the same initial as his own name.
He preferred his true name, especially when meeting females in the dream-state who resided on the other planet he frequented via astral travel, since he knew it to be more accepted there. A name that curiously enough had been remembered by the attractive woman Julianna whom he’d met with again last night on that self-same planet… Earth.
Earth being the foreign world on the other side of the sun.
At least it was foreign to most on their world of Chavernos, with the exceptions of dreamphasers like him.
Rubbing his eyes tiredly, Dominick then leaned back against the comforts of his bed, resting his head against his hands on the pillows.
“Phase?” Riff prompted.
Ignoring the impatient look on his brother’s face, he merely stared at the ceiling lost in thought.
This was often quite literally the case of a dreamphaser.
Despite the unknown explanation of whatever forces of nature had granted the supernaturals of Chavernos their varied inborn magical abilities, the fact stood that their powers did exist. Dreamphasing was only one ability, and very often a dreamphaser had a second inborn ability as well.
A supernatural’s powers were usually genetic, yet often differed even amongst direct family members. Dreamphasing was the one exception that was shared by many of the supernaturals, but a second inborn ability would generally be more distinctive. Oddly enough, some supernaturals—and especially dreamphasers—could go the majority of their lives unaware of having a second inborn ability unless actively sought out or accidentally triggered.
Such was the case of Dominick and Riff. Both were dreamphasers, but to this point, neither had any knowledge of a second inborn ability, although they did have friends who were both dreamphasers in addition to having secondary powers.
Dreamphasing was an ability that was normally considered both useful and pleasant. However, in the rare case that a dark soul abused the ability, it could be devastating.
The basic principle of dreamphasing was two-fold. First, it allowed a person to effortlessly transmit his or her astral spirit from one location to another; and secondly, it would allow that person to safely travel in astral form into another’s dreams. Whether to become a part of a nightly fantasy, or even if only to control one’s own dreams, it could provide confidence to the recipient.
Most dreamphasers limited their astral traveling to visit other dreamers on Chavernos, only stepping out of this boundary on rare occasions that might warrant it. These supernaturals made it a rule to stay away from the minds of beings of other worlds.
Dominick had never been the type to listen to rules.
Instead, he’d made use of his ability to travel across the vast distance to Earth. In his astral form, he often satisfied his curiosity by secretly visiting the people of this world. He gained a fascination of the differences between the two worlds, seeing the various buildings and structures the Earth humans had created, and seeing some of the forms of entertainment they enjoyed, although the technical devices remained a mystery. And of course, finding pleasant company in dreams was always welcome.
Yes, that planet in the solar system certainly had some good things to recommend it!
Despite rare occasions of a brief memory lapse upon returning, or sometimes in the dreams themselves, dreamphasing was fairly safe to the astral voyagers. There was no known limit to how long a dreamphaser could remain in another’s dream, until of course the other person woke up, a fact which could send the dreamphaser back home instantly. Not always though, since a dreamphaser did travel in astral form, and might choose to linger in the astral plane if desired. Dominick himself usually only lingered before entering a person’s dreams, except on rare occasions.
His dreamphasing ability, which had been identified as a child by the experienced physicians of Barokka who were most familiar with it, had been honed with help from his grandfather Chaos who was also gifted with it.
When he was fifteen, Dominick had first traveled to Earth with him, and after a few visits, the young man’s curiosity grew towards the distant planet. By sixteen, he was traveling there on his own. Shortly afterwards, he began to notice and appreciate the ability to meet fair damsels in their dreams.
One of the only things he had in common with his elder brother.
Now, just over a decade later, Dominick still traveled occasionally to Earth, but he’d tapered down on his visits with female dreamers lately. For of all these women he’d encountered, no matter how pleasant their brief company was, the fact remained that dream affairs had become unsatisfying over the years. Contrary to his carefree bachelor attitude, Dominick sometimes found himself wishing that he had one special woman in reality, rather than those who were only of brief dreams.
Perhaps... a woman like Julianna? he wondered.
“Chavernos to Phaser!” Riff shouted in his brother’s ear, jolting Dominick to turn to him. Narrowing his eyes at his grinning elder brother, he was tempted to send Riff a nightmare later! “By Chaos, you’re impossible when you’re off daydreaming. I asked you, was this one pretty?”
Dominick paused before answering, for some reason ill at ease with his brother’s typically glib remark.
“Pretty enough,” he commented dryly.
“Well, don’t just sit there close-mouthed!” chuckled Riff. “Cut to the chase, and tell me what happened. What was she like?”
Dominick grimaced at this particular question, knowing what he referred to not so subtly. He knew it shouldn’t bother him, as he and Riff had often discussed their dalliances with females in the dream realm. If their father knew, he’d likely have skinned the pair alive, but as the brothers were discreet, this never happened. As it was, their grandfather who did know, was less than pleased at this idle use of a supernatural gift, and never made secret his disapproval.
Not that this stopped the brothers from pursuing their nightly encounters. They only kept this information to themselves.
Information they’d sometimes shared in the past.
Yet now, oddly enough, Dominick wished his brother hadn’t shown up with his usual line of questioning.
“I’d imagine she’s the same as any other Earth girl.” He tried to sound convincingly disinterested
, hoping it would discourage Riff.
Naturally it didn’t.
“Come on, Phase. You’re acting like someone who got kicked out of someone’s dream.” He paused, a catlike smile spreading across his face. “Oh... so she woke up first.”
Anger shot across Dominick’s face. “Look, I didn’t invite you here, and I sure as hell don’t need an inquisition from you right now! If you can’t keep your amusement to a minimum, why don’t you bother the other guys instead?”
“Thanks loads, Dom,” laughed a voice from the hallway, as the bearer and one other person entered the room. The speaker continued, arms folded. “So you’re the one who sends this joker after us with his pranks. I never would have guessed it.”
Dominick gave the dark-haired man a weak smile. “There’s a lot you couldn’t guess regarding me, Buddy,” he replied, turning to the blond-haired man beside him. “Inferno, do me a favor. If my brother won’t leave my room willingly, would you kindly heat things up to make him more amenable?”
Inferno nodded once, rubbing his hands together. “It is chilly in here.”
Riff patted his shoulder meaningfully. “One flame out of you, my friend, and you’ll be drinking coffee by the barrel to stay awake from what I send after you at night.”
“Thanks for the invitation, but I actually value my sleep,” Inferno replied smiling, gesturing his hand meaningfully towards a nearly plant on a table, which thrived under the sudden warmth. Truthfully, he wouldn’t be eager to use his fire powers to irritate Riff. Even though being a dreamphaser too, he could probably counter anything Riff came up with, it could still make for some very disturbing nightmares.
Buddy was a different matter, since he was a guardian angel. Not the conventional type with the halo and wings—he had the former, but not the latter—since his father had been a guardian devil himself, explaining Buddy’s forked tail that no guardian angel should possess.
All guardians were less susceptible to the powers of dreamphasers, since they normally went to another realm altogether to retire. And fellow guardians usually protected their own. So outside of a physical fight, Buddy deemed he could argue with Riff at leisure without likely retribution.