Find Me If You Dare (Dreamcatcher Book 2)
Page 14
“No!” Kayla shouted. “I’m not leaving.”
“Kayla, please.” My voice shook. “I need you to trust me.”
She crossed the room in a few quick strides. She put a hand on my chest. “I do. You know I do. But if something’s happening, I’m not going anywhere.”
“He’s right, Kayla,” Tabbi added. “I’ve known him for two hundred years, and I’ve never seen him so scared. Something big’s about to happen.”
“And that’s exactly why we can’t leave. I’m not going to run every time the big, bad wolf comes blowing on our front door. What would happen if all of Caelum scattered because they were afraid? Daniel, you can’t ask me to leave. Please don’t make me do it.”
My gaze flicked across her face, catching the fear in her eyes. She wasn’t afraid of what was about to happen but that I’d leave her again. And hadn’t she fallen into more trouble when I’d sent her off with Seth in Rome?
Were those really my two choices? Watch Richard’s Nightmares dig their black claws into her flesh, or send her away and not be there again when she needs me the most?
I closed my eyes to keep the tears at bay. If those were my options, I knew what I had to choose: let her stay.
She spoke in my head, I’ll be okay. We either win this, or we go down fighting—together.
I couldn’t control my trembling hands as I reached up to hold her face. I kissed her forehead, breathing in the scent of her strawberry shampoo, memorizing the feel of her soft skin against my lips. Bile churned in my stomach. Every part of me shouted this was wrong, that I should just flee with Kayla and take her as far away from here as possible. But that would mean leaving so many behind, people I swore I would fight and die alongside.
I nearly whimpered when my lips left her skin. “Okay,” I whispered, resting my forehead against hers. My hands dropped to the small of her back, and I held her close. “We stay.”
“If she isn’t going, I’m not, either,” Tabbi replied. “I was just trying to help you out, but I really agree with Kayla. We can’t tuck our tails and run all the time.”
“So, you lied to get me to leave with you?” Kayla asked, turning her head toward the feisty forever-twelve-year-old.
Tabbi shrugged. “What? He’s like my brother. I do what I have to for family.”
Samantha’s door opened. “Well, if you’re all staying, I guess I have to, too.” Annoyance laced her tone, but her weapon belt was already stocked. She wouldn’t have left, even if they had. She loved the battle too much.
I sighed, my arms still around Kayla, not wanting to let her go. “I guess we’re all going down together, then. Grab every weapon you can carry, and someone run next door and wake Nolan. It’s going to be a long day.”
For twenty minutes, I spoke with Trishna telepathically, trying to devise a plan. Using Revealing Powder—the same powder that made Protectors glow while invisible—on the Nightmares was smart in theory. They were demonic, but spirits like us, nonetheless. Yet, I didn’t think Trishna understood how many were going to charge through her door.
But it was the best idea we had.
By the time every team had returned from the field, the Nightmares still hadn’t come. Now, over one hundred of us crammed in the main street of Caelum—Dreamcatcher, Dreamweaver, witch, and warlock alike. All of us were on edge, including Lian, who’d broken free of her fever only to join us for a battle against death itself.
Sweat ran down the back of my neck and my face, and I couldn’t stand still. Chad was still gone. Trishna was sure he would walk the Nightmares into the city. I’d suggested sending a group after him, but she hadn’t wanted to risk it. He’d be coming to us soon enough.
We all stood far enough away from the entry passage to have time to react the moment he stepped into Caelum. I kept my eyes glued to the entrance, flipping a blade in my right hand. I bounced on my feet and twisted my neck, my arms and legs tingling. How long were they going to make us wait?
Kayla slung her arm through mine and kissed my shoulder. Try to calm down, Daniel. We knew something like this would come eventually. We’re ready.
I fought the urge to shake my head, to destroy her hope.
“Dude, if these bastards don’t show up soon, I’m taking a nap,” Nolan said.
“If they don’t show up, we’re all taking naps,” Samantha replied.
“We should spoon.”
“How many times do I have to tell you? You’re not getting in my pants.”
I rolled my eyes. “Both of you, shut it. If we survive the night, you can tell all the jokes you want. Or, hell, make love so loud the whole damn cave collapses. Everyone already knows you want to.”
Tabbi burst into laughter, and Kayla pressed her face to my arm, stifling a giggle.
“Did he really say that?” Nolan’s voice was playful, but Samantha’s glare wasn’t.
Lian’s gaze flickered from Samantha to me, her lips pressed together to hide her grin.
“If the Nightmares don’t kill you, Daniel, I might,” Samantha said.
A loud boom sounded from outside the hidden gate. Car horns blared, and the unmistakable noise of crunching vehicles echoed from the Allegheny Tunnel into Caelum.
They were here.
The alarm screeched as the gate opened. Seconds passed slower than a dying man’s heartbeat as we waited for our attackers to step out of the passageway. It was quiet—too quiet. Where was the stampede of Nightmares? Why weren’t they charging like we’d expected?
Gasps filled the chamber as Chad walked through, a cocky grin covering his pale face. Many must not have yet heard the news he was our mole. Chad stood taller, his red hair styled, and spirals of water spun from his palms toward the ceiling.
“Seems they were expecting us, my lord,” he said to someone in the shadows.
I held my breath. Every atom in my body pulsated. This wasn’t right. Margaret had said nothing about him coming here, too. Why had I not even considered it?
My stomach sank to my toes, an icy chill vibrating through my bones, as Richard stepped out of the tunnel, Nightmares at his back.
Without missing a beat, our front lines barreled forward, ready to draw them in so we could coat the red-eyed monsters with powder. But Richard raised a hand, and everyone slammed into an invisible wall, toppling over one another. I tucked Kayla behind my back.
“Well, this isn’t quite what I expected. It’s so… primitive. Anyway, I’m not ready to fight, yet.” The silent room and stone walls seemed to amplify Richard’s voice. “Margaret, darling, where are you?”
“You’ll never get her,” Trishna answered, pushing through the crowd to face him.
Richard waved a hand like he was swatting a bug. “Don’t be silly. I always get what I want. Margaret. Come, now.” He snapped his fingers.
From down the tunnel that led to the jail came a blood-curdling scream. Following Richard’s nod in its direction, Chad hurried toward the sound. My heart beat like gunshots in my chest. Margaret’s screams intensified, echoing into our corridor, and many covered their ears. The Nightmares behind Richard snarled and growled, almost salivating.
I stepped in reverse until Kayla’s chest was against my back. Stay close to me. I won’t let him get you. She nodded and gripped my shirt. I tightened my hands around my daggers.
Margaret’s shrieks turned into sobs as the sound of shuffling came closer.
Chad pulled Margaret to stand in front of Richard.
“No, let me go,” she said. “Please, let me go.”
When I’d yelled at her in the prison cell, I’d been so blinded by rage that I hadn’t noticed how her clothes had hung from her shoulders and waist. In Rome, she’d held a little extra weight around her midsection. Now, she was mere skin and bones. Maybe I’d been too hard on Margaret; Richard really had tortured her to near oblivion.
Richard snatched her from Chad’s grasp.
She shook in his hold, her knees buckling. “No, please. I did what you asked.”
I held my breath, my gaze darting around the room, calculating. There had to be something we could do to stop him.
“Tamesis, don’t do this,” Trishna spoke.
I stepped forward, switching my daggers for my pistol. From this distance, I’d never be able to throw a knife, but if I got an open shot—
Richard tipped his head and leered. “Ad mortem sacrificium!” he shouted, his eyes glowing yellow.
“No!” Trishna screamed, reaching for the girl.
A loud boom shook the cave as Margaret detonated, exploding into pieces, like shrapnel. Caelum filled with screams as Trishna’s coven flailed around the cavern in a frenzied mob. I spun, pulling Kayla into my arms, and crouched, protecting her from as much impact as possible.
Droplets of blood and pieces of flesh smacked against my back and head. My shirt stuck to my skin, and the thick, warm fluid trickled down my neck and face. I squeezed my eyes closed and gagged as the smell of iron overwhelmed my senses and the thwap of body parts against stone sent shivers down my spine.
As cries and sounds of vomiting filled the room, Richard shouted, “Get them!” and the Nightmares screeched in response. Every hair on my body rose.
I tugged Kayla to her feet and tucked her behind me again, switching out my weapons for the blades that would kill the beasts. I shot my gaze toward the Magus responsible for unleashing the Revealing Powder.
They were gone.
I faltered backward. That was our only hope of catching them off guard.
Magus ran toward us as Protectors jumped into battle, fighting against the monsters the witches and warlocks couldn’t see. But there were too many beasts. Sharp claws gutted every man and woman.
This wasn’t a battle.
This was a slaughter.
Daniel, what do we do? Samantha shouted.
My gaze flicked around the room. Magus cowered against walls, hands in front of their faces. Catchers stood back-to-back, fighting until their clothes were soaked dark red and their bodies ripped to pieces. The gray stone walls and floor glistened, darkened with coats of sticky blood, and, everywhere, eyes seemed to stare at me, begging me to tell them why—why hadn’t we stopped him before it came to this, why had we recruited them, just to lead them to their deaths.
My head felt separate from my body as the room spun. I pressed a tremoring fist against my heart and forced myself to breathe.
Get out of here! I screamed at all of our coven members. Caelum has fallen. Protectors, get the Magus out of here, now!
“Seth and Ivan. We can’t leave them,” Lian shouted over the screams of our falling comrades.
“I wasn’t going to. Take Kayla and the others. I’m going for them.” I closed my eyes, praying Richard hadn’t stripped us of our powers, and nearly cheered when I found myself in the banquet hall.
I sprinted to where Seth and Ivan lay in beds side by side, and placed a hand on each of their arms. I glanced around the room at all of the other coven members still lying on cots. My chest compressed under a one-thousand-pound giant. Would I have time to come back for them?
The smell of sulfur hit my nose, and a familiar growl of a Nightmare answered my unspoken question. There was no time. Nightmares were in the room, and if I didn’t get Seth and Ivan out now, I’d lose my chance at saving them. Closing my eyes as bile rose in my throat—never before had I left a living comrade—I evaporated to Kayla.
landed in an old barn with Seth and Ivan in tow. Gently, I laid the still-unconscious bodies of my friends on the floor, sounds of quiet voices and soft cries behind me. I spun in the direction of the rest of my team. Lian and Nolan hovered around two bodies, one lying and the other kneeling. Off to the side, Samantha rocked, her forehead pressed to her knees, sobs wracking through her. My heart rate picked up. Samantha never cried.
Holding my breath, I hurried to the other side of the shed. Lian held a shaking hand to her mouth, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Nolan caught my glance as I stepped around him. His brown eyes were sad and sympathetic. I’m sorry, man, he said.
I swallowed the growing lump in my throat and glanced down. Tabbi was on the ground, her pale face still, and her green eyes staring unfocused at the rafters above. Her red hair fanned around her head—and on her chest, where her heart would be, Kayla’s hands rested, blood seeping through her fingers.
Though her hands hadn’t moved, Kayla’s arms were lax.
My body turned to ice.
“No, no, no.” I dropped to my knees next to Tabbi, pressing my fingertips against the side of her neck. No pulse. Tears burned my eyes. When I’d left them, the Nightmares were close, but they should’ve had enough time. Should I have helped them escape before I went after Seth and Ivan?
I took my friend’s small hand in mine; it was ice cold. This couldn’t be happening. Of all people to be taken down by a Nightmare, it shouldn’t have been her.
“She did it to protect me,” Samantha spoke weakly from her side of the barn. “We were circling up, getting ready to evaporate, and one of the Nightmares broke free. I never saw it coming, and she”—Samantha sobbed—“she jumped in the way. Kayla lit it on fire before it could attack any more of us, but Tabbi…”
I sat back on my feet, my lungs in my throat. Sacrifice—it was what we were built for. It’s how we were created. My head felt as if it floated above my body. I never wanted her to die like that again. I never wanted any of them to forever be lost to eternal darkness, period. Tabbi had done what we were all ingrained to do, but I couldn’t help but feel like all of this was somehow my fault. Like maybe if I hadn’t fallen so hard so fast for Kayla, we wouldn’t even be where we were.
We were in this fight because I loved Kayla. God help me; I loved her like I’d suffocate on my eternity if she wasn’t by my side. But my affection for her had pulled everyone else I cared about into some maniac’s version of a holy war—and they were dying because they cared about me.
The room spun. I crawled away from Tabbi’s body like it was a bomb ready to explode. I dug my fingers into the dirt, unable to remove my burning gaze from Tabbi’s face. A wave of throbs overtook me, starting in my toes and ripping through every muscle and bone until it reached my throat. Unable to breathe, I gasped for air, each breath laced with a groan I couldn’t contain.
Jumping to my feet, I paced with my hands on my head, breathing through clenched teeth, trying to catch my breath before I unraveled.
For two hundred years, Tabbi’s bubbly, enthusiastic personality had lit a smile on my face. She’d been by my side when my parents passed. When my brothers, sisters, nieces, and nephews died. When I’d stood at my mentor’s pyre, saying goodbye to the man who’d taken me under his wing when I became a Protector, the man who’d taught me how to fight—and how to live—after death. She wasn’t just my friend; she was my sister.
As I gripped the back of my neck, my shoulders curled inward, and I cried, my heart shattering. This wasn’t supposed to happen. I should’ve died before her. I was a fucking Catcher, damn it! Never should I have let her stay with us in Caelum.
A hand touched my arm, and I jerked away. I needed to be alone. This was my fault. I should’ve been stronger; I should’ve protected her.
I stormed from the barn, every part of my body sore, like I was falling under the poison’s spell all over again. Outside, a small forest surrounded the decaying plantation. I wandered into the woods until I was far enough from the rest of my team that I could let my emotions run free.
Back and forth I paced through the trees, moans and sobs wrecking my chest and throat. I’d prayed that God would spare my friends, but that obviously had been asking too much. I screamed, punching the nearest tree until my knuckles
bled and my hands were raw, until my knees gave out.
I leaned against the trunk, my forehead pressed to the bark. Screw God and the Angels. Where were they when we needed them? As soon as this war was over, I was done being a Dreamcatcher. I’d given them two hundred years, and they’d left us all to die in that cave.
Arms wrapped around me from behind. I didn’t have to be a mind reader, like Tabbi had been, to know who it was. Holding me, Kayla pressed her cheek to my back. The warmth of her skin melted the chill in my spine. I dug my fingertips into my scalp and focused on slowing my cries as she rubbed my chest rhythmically with her thumb.
I’m so sorry, she said, squeezing, her tears dampening my shirt. I dropped my hands from my head and placed my arms over hers, my forehead still against the tree.
I clung to her, desperate to feel her love, to hold on to the moment that I knew would end the second we moved. My tears waned, but I didn’t let Kayla go for fear that I’d unravel all over again.
She loved you, Kayla said. You know she did. She told me so many times how you felt like the big brother she never had. Hold on to that, okay? We’ll get Richard back for all he’s done.
I let out a long breath and slowly stood. Kayla’s arms fell away. I turned, and when she saw my face, her already-red eyes scrunched in pain. Silently, I pulled her to me, wanting her in my arms, to kiss her hair, to know that I wasn’t alone.
For minutes, we stood in silence, and then I eased my hug to look onto her beautiful face again. I pushed dark strands of hair from her forehead and flushed cheeks with my fingertips. My hands lingered on the sides of her neck. I tipped her chin up, bringing my lips down to meet hers. Together, we’d get through this. Together, we’d take down Richard and avenge our friend.
Again, I kissed her, then pulled away. “I’m sorry.” I rested my forehead against hers. “You should never have to see me fall apart.”
Kayla put a hand over my heart. “You’re not a robot, Daniel. Don’t pretend to be.”
I placed a hand over hers, stroking her thumb with mine. Maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess if I hadn’t fallen in love with her, but I was so glad I had. I would take whatever came my way, for as much as she needed me, I needed her. Maybe even more than she knew.