Destined for Dreams: Book One

by Ginna Moran

  He nods. “I’ll keep my eye out, then. Tonight feels like an invite only night anyway.”

  I glide through the door and spin on my feet when I hit the dance floor. It’s much more crowded tonight, but there’s an invisible wall around me, like the other creatures don’t want to get too close. It would usually bother me, but not tonight. I don’t think they’re doing it out of fear, but respect. They’re all monsters like me after all.

  The atmosphere of The Haven has changed dramatically since the last time I was here, which isn’t exactly strange, but it still makes me uneasy. I scan the crowd for anyone who could be a threat to me while also keeping my eye out for a creature that deals with souls.

  I’m uncomfortable dancing by myself so I dance through the crowd toward an empty booth in the far corner next to the door that leads to the kitchen. I sit with my back to the wall and watch bodies sway to the hypnotizing music.

  A woman emerges from the crowd and dances seductively a few feet away. Her eyes meet mine and I refuse to break eye contact. Her coppery-blond hair is pulled tightly into a top knot. A silver and white beaded headband and dangling silver earrings glint in the strobe lights. Her golden skin shimmers against her white, eyelet lace shift dress that’s cinched at the waist. Her nude wedged heels make her a good five inches taller, so that she’s over six feet tall in them.

  My hands tremble in my lap. She’s gorgeous, but dangerous, and just the creature I’ve been looking for. She’s a succubus, an energy feeder, and she has her eyes set on me.

  I stiffen. She’s not dancing around just to get my attention. She’s hunting me. I recognize the moves of a predator. I’m one too. She’s gauging to see if I could possibly be an easy target. It’d be a better fate than Hunter’s though. At least she wouldn’t keep a soul hostage.

  The woman stops dancing and tilts her head to the side. I narrow my eyes. She’s not going to back off. It’s what I want though. I need her to come closer. This may be my only chance to find out if I can help Hunter without Jacqueline.

  My chest tightens. The woman saunters closer and a wave of dizziness rushes over me and I cover my eyes. It’s gone as quickly as it came, and when I look back up, the woman is standing at my booth with her hands pressed flat on the table.

  She leans over. “Your energy...it’s mesmerizing.”

  I lick my lips. “Join me.”

  The succubus slides in across from me. Her silver jewelry shimmers in the colorful lights. She looks me up and down and smiles. “You’re very brave.”

  I sit straighter. “I could say the same thing about you.”

  She blinks, taken aback. “I’m sorry, I thought you were...” Her voice trails off.

  “An easy target?” I glare.

  She starts to slide from the booth and I reach across the table and grab her arm. Her eyes shift to the dance floor and then back to me and she freezes. “I was confused by your human half. I could’ve sworn you were pure a minute ago, but I see it now. This is all just a misunderstanding.”

  I’m the most human after I’ve fed off a nightmare, but I’m still irritated that this energy eating succubus thought it would be okay to drain my essence in the middle of a crowded club. No wonder the council is picky about who they accept.

  “It’s okay, succubus,” I say. “We all make mistakes, but just know that Cian frowns upon stalking patrons in his club. He’ll be upset about this.” I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ll say anything to intimidate her. I doubt she’ll help me out of the goodness of her heart. She thought I was food a second ago.

  Her eyes widen. “Please, I can’t lose this place.”

  I let go of her arm and touch her hand. “I won’t mention it if you let me ask you something.”

  Her eyebrows knit together. “Go on.”

  “I heard that your kind can possess humans.”

  She nods.

  “Has a soul ever managed to escape?”

  She taps her fingers on the table. “Not with me. I consume them.”

  My stomach flips. That wasn’t the answer I was looking for. “But is it possible?”

  She stands up. “You’re asking too many questions.”

  I push to my feet and block her from walking past me. “Please, I need to know.”

  She sighs. “It’s called projection. It’s rare, but what I heard about it, a soul can project away from their body to avoid being consumed by my kind. But they have to come back. The body is the anchor to this world. Without one, the soul will die.”

  The succubus pushes past me and disappears into the crowd. I blow a puff of air through my lips. I’ve never heard of projection before, but it may be a way to help Hunter. If he could free himself from Jacqueline, he could go back to his body.

  The only problem is that his body isn’t here and it’d be the only thing that would anchor him to life. He will die without it.

  HUNTER

  “You need sleep,” Alyssa says.

  Jacqueline shakes her head. “I’m fine.”

  “You look terrible and you’re rambling incoherently. You need sleep.” Alyssa walks across the room and flicks off the light switch. “I want you to lie down and close your eyes.”

  Jacqueline groans, but is forced to do what she says because of the charm. “You can’t make me sleep.”

  Alyssa’s silhouette crosses the room and stands over Jacqueline. “No, but you’ll get bored soon enough. No more talking for now. Get some rest.”

  Jacqueline stares at the back of her eyelids. Her annoyance and fear close around me. She’s terrified of not being in control of her body. I find it satisfying though. It’s the perfect punishment for her.

  “You’re enjoying this,” Jacqueline thinks.

  I don’t answer. If I do, it’ll keep her entertained enough to stay awake. Sleep is the only reprieve I get from her. I’ll take it where I can get it.

  After a few minutes, Jacqueline drifts off to sleep. I don’t think she could resist even if she tried because of how exhausted Nadia’s nightmare inflicting makes her.

  The door creaks and I hear hushed voices.

  “Did you find anything out?” Alyssa asks and excitement swells around me. It’s Nadia. I can sense her presence.

  “She’s asleep,” Nadia says, not answering Alyssa’s question.

  The world shifts and Nadia intrudes Jacqueline’s head. I didn’t know how much I missed her until she’s standing before me with her white hair blowing behind her and her pale gray eyes staring into my soul.

  She’s wearing a light blue sundress, not the same outfit she wore when I saw her in the real world, and she’s barefoot. Her alabaster skin is flawless and she offers her hand for me to take.

  “You’re beautiful,” I say. I should ask her if she has a plan or how she’s going to get me back to my body, but I don’t. I just want to be near her.

  She hugs me. I breathe in the sugary scent of her hair and then kiss her forehead. We stand silently together without moving and I imagine this is what it would be like to be with her in the real world.

  “Why is this only a dream?” I lean down and kiss her.

  “I’m trying to fix it.” She smiles an inch from my mouth before she turns toward the empty street in the middle of a rundown neighborhood. The place looks abandoned, like something bad happened, and everyone had to leave in a hurry. Trash is strewn over the weed covered lawns and cracked street, and many of the houses have open doors and broken windows. It’s really creepy.

  “This is my last visit here,” she says, peering at me from over her shoulder. “I have to stop before Jacqueline is too far gone.”

  It’s hard to keep my face indifferent. Her words physically hurt and I want to leave the dream. “It doesn’t have to be forever. When I’m back in my body, I can find you.”

  She tucks her hair behind her ear. “I’m afraid that’ll only get one of us killed. You know the board will kill me if they knew I existed. I don’t know what the council would do if they find out how much I c
are about you.”

  She leads me to the stoop of the closest house and I kick the trash off the steps and sit next to her. I gaze into her tear-rimmed eyes and slide my arm around her waist, pulling her closer. She buries her face into my chest and I rub my hand on her side.

  As much as it kills me to admit it, she’s right. Even if I abandon my family and friends, the board will always be hiding in the shadows. Always. They’re willing to kill their own to keep their secrets. They stalk, brainwash, force bystanders to join them, and murder all in the sake of saving humanity from so-called monsters.

  “There has to be a way,” I say.

  NADIA

  My heart is breaking.

  I’ve never been so sad in a dream before, and I can’t stop my tears from flowing.

  My mind is set on helping Hunter get back to his body. I’m willing to die trying because I can’t live with the thought of Jacqueline holding his soul forever. I can’t bear it.

  I stare off into the distance. “I don’t see one. We’re only two people, Hunter. It’s impossible for us to change things.”

  “I promise I’ll find a way.”

  I tilt my head up until my lips are an inch from his. I kiss him hungrily, desperately like he’s the one thing I crave. He tangles his hands in my hair and I press against him, kissing him deeper, pushing him back on the ground. My hands lace around his neck and I feel the heat of his skin on my fingers. His hand trails down my back to run along my bare leg.

  Our breathing is heavy, rhythmic, and his lips wander from mine. They trail to my jaw and then to my neck, and I bury my face into his shoulder.

  “Hunter,” I whisper. I lift my head and gaze into his hazel eyes. He stares at me so intensely that I’m afraid to move, afraid to shatter the love I feel in this moment. “We should stop.”

  He leans on his elbows. “We’ll figure this out. We’re going to be okay.”

  I want to believe him. I’d give anything to believe him. But, here we are, in a dream.

  HUNTER

  She sits up and stares at the abandoned neighborhood. I can see the doubt in her eyes. She doesn’t believe there’s hope for us. A tear rolls down her cheek and I rub it away with my finger.

  She turns her head to face me. “The best we can hope for is that you get your body back and can be whole again. That you get your life back and can have some normalcy.”

  “It won’t be the same. You’ve already changed things. I can’t go back home and live like I did. I’m not going to train to be an agent anymore. I want nothing to do with the board.”

  She closes her eyes for a second. “I have to go.”

  I kiss her temple. “Please, stay.”

  She smiles. “You know I can’t, Hunter.”

  She turns in my arms and I hug her. “I’ll never forget about you, Nadia, and I’ll miss you until the day I die.”

  She cups my chin. “You’ll miss me until you forget about me. I’ll fade from your memory soon enough. Remember, this is just a dream.”

  She drops her hands to her sides and turns her back on me. My skin is cold where she touched me and a hard pit forms in my stomach as I watch her walk away.

  I kick a trash can and it clatters against the stucco wall of the abandoned house and the world ripples and splits. Utter blackness seeps through like oil and covers everything in its path.

  Within minutes, Nadia is gone and Jacqueline’s dream world shatters into a million pieces.

  NADIA

  I cover my eyes with my hands.

  I can’t let Alyssa see that they’re tear-rimmed and puffy. It was harder than I expected to visit Hunter, knowing it would be the last time I’d ever see him again. But, I had to do it. It would’ve been more painful if I’d left hope for us when I feel so hopeless.

  I drop to the carpet and pull my knees to my chest. I need a few minutes to think things through.

  “What did you talk about?” Alyssa asks, plopping down next to me. She touches my knee and I lean on her.

  “I was telling him goodbye,” I whisper. “I can’t go into Jacqueline’s dreams again. Her sanity is at its breaking point.”

  Alyssa hugs me. “Her fate could be worse, Nadia. Jacqueline’s lucky you don’t drop her off on the board’s doorstep.” She looks over my shoulder at Jacqueline asleep on the couch.

  I frown. “Actually, I may have to do that. I found out from a succubus that the only way for Hunter to free himself and survive is if we have his body to anchor him.”

  “So we still need Jacqueline,” she says. “But I see she’s not going to help.”

  I nod. It’s hard to believe we can’t save Hunter without Jacqueline’s participation. I didn’t go through all this to just give up. I gave up my life for this—everything. Reconciliation with the council is impossible and my father’s going to be furious.

  I steel myself. I mentally put up a giant wall around me with barbed wire and moats. “Then she’ll die by their hands,” I say. I tilt my head up and peer at Jacqueline asleep on the couch. “I’m sorry, Hunter. I’m so, so sorry. You deserve better than this, but it has to be done. I’m going to hand Jacqueline over to the board and at least you’ll be home. Maybe they’ll figure things out.”

  The room is deathly quiet, even my own heart is afraid to beat after hearing my words out loud. I will be responsible for not only one death, but possibly two. But in the end Hunter will be out of Jacqueline’s head.

  He will be free.

  21. IN OVER MY HEAD

  HUNTER

  It’s the longest night I’ve ever experienced with Jacqueline. Nadia is really forcing her to catch up on her beauty sleep, and it’s so boring.

  It also doesn’t help that there’s a huge possibility that today will be my last day alive. I’m going home, but that doesn’t mean anything. It’s going to be bad for Jacqueline either way, but she’s ridiculous enough to take me down with her so she doesn’t have to go alone.

  I’m. Going. To. Die.

  Well, crap.

  Well, damn.

  Well—

  “There’s a payphone a block away at the Sunset Diner. We can call Hunter’s brother from there,” Alyssa says.

  I want Jacqueline to open her eyes so I can be more involved in the conversation. I hate only being able to hear what’s going on.

  “Jacqueline?” I ask. “Can you hear me?”

  Silence.

  “Jacqueline!” I yell.

  “What Hunter?”

  “Open your eyes, please.”

  “I can’t. I can’t do anything. I’m in the void.”

  “How can you hear me?”

  “I can always hear you when you talk to me.”

  “Oh.”

  “What are they saying?”

  “That today is the end. Nadia is going to hand you over to the board if you don’t cooperate.”

  “Oh.”

  “I don’t get it, Jackie. Why are you so stubborn? Why can’t you just put me back in my body?”

  “I’m sure the board is keeping tabs on your body and I have to make a physical connection to put you back. I don’t have the information they desire so what would be the point? They’ll kill me.”

  “They won’t really care. They’ve killed their own for much less. I’m not valuable to them, either.”

  “Then I guess we’re going to die together.”

  “I guess so.”

  NADIA

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Alyssa strolls next to me, swinging her arms at her sides. We left Jacqueline asleep back at the apartment. I’m hoping it will help with her sanity.

  I glance behind us for the millionth time. “I have nothing to say.” With the way I search our surroundings, I probably look overly paranoid. It’s not like we’re walking the streets after dark or lurking in the shadows of an alley, but I’m not letting my guard down for a second. The way to survive in the real world is to trust no one and notice everything. Even the mother of two jogging with a stroller and an iced coff
ee in the cup holder could be after me.

  “Oh, come on. I see how sad you are.” We cross the street at a crosswalk.

  I stop at the corner and turn to look at her. “I’m in over my head, Lys. I don’t want to lose Hunter, but the life he has right now sucks. Don’t you think it’d be better—” I tug the ends of my hair and stare up at the gray sky. “What else am I supposed to do?”

  She hugs me. “I don’t have all the answers.”

  I kick a rock off the sidewalk and into the street. “Am I doing the right thing?”

  She shrugs. “If you think you are, then yes. It’s the right thing if your intent is good.”

  “Can you live with knowing that I’m going to possibly be the reason for someone’s death?” I ask.

  “Can you?”

  I’d love to say I’d be perfectly fine with having blood on my hands, but the truth is that I’ll be haunted until the day I die or the day I decide to stop caring, whichever comes first. This is a situation that I can hope and beg for the best, but I really have to accept the absolute worst thing that can happen. With my luck, we’ll all die and then it will have been such a waste to give up everything for.

  I can’t do it.

  I can’t.

  “There’s the payphone,” Alyssa says, dragging me from my thoughts.

  I pull the phone number from my jacket pocket. “Let’s get it over with.”

  I practically run to the front of the small diner where an old phone hangs from the wall. It looks as old as the battered booths I see through the glass window. I pop in some change and pound the numbers.

  I feel like I’m going to die here on the sidewalk. My heart races and my palms sweat as the phone rings in my ear. I beg for it to keep ringing. I don’t really want to talk to Mason and maybe if I never get a hold of him, I can just forget about everything and say at least I tried.

  “Who’s this?” A male voice echoes in my ear and my fingers fumble as I adjust the phone.