Firewalkers: Dreamer

by Shiloh Walker

  She was making him take Jax first. She knew Sage well enough to know he could get temperamental. If he took her first, she wouldn’t put it past the teleporter to suddenly decide to claim weariness. It would be bullshit. Teleportation was like breathing to Sage, but she wouldn’t put it past him.

  She smoothed her hands down the shiny black of the jacket. “We’re going to have to find you some clothes that call a little less attention,” she mused. Then she slid him a saucy look and whispered, “But I want to keep these.”

  He smiled down at her, stroking one hand over her still damp golden hair.

  “It’s going to feel weird, like you’re being pulled into a million pieces, and like you’re flying through water at the same time,” she told him. “It’s loud and it’s fast. It feels like it takes forever, but it won’t. Focus on something that matters, keep it in your mind until you’re there and it’s over.”

  Jax leaned down, curling his larger frame around hers to kiss her softly. “I will focus then, on you, Caris,” he murmured.

  Sage watched and listened with dark, unreadable eyes, shaking his head as the vampire slowly pulled away from Caris. “I’ll be back in a few, Sugar,” he drawled as he moved closer to Jax. The vampire eyed him narrowly, menacingly as Sage moved into his space.

  Correctly reading the warning look on Jax’s face, Sage laughed. “Sorry, man, that’s the way it works. Gotta get close. Don’t wanna lose you on the way. Caris would never forgive me,” he mocked Jax’s accent sarcastically as he looped his arms under and around Jax’s, so that they stood nearly eye to eye. “Damn, you are a pretty thing, ain’t ya? Good thing I don’t like guys. Of course, we got teleporters around who do—”

  Caris covered her face with her hands to stifle her frustrated groan as they exploded and were gone.

  Jax ignored Sage, focusing instead on Caris’ words. Yes. It did feel like he was being pulled into a million pieces, but it had felt like that when she had brought him here. And it wasn’t that much different from the jump to light-speed, except then he was secured in a ship.

  Right now, he was locked against another man, something he wasn’t altogether fond of, and his stomach was roiling, his head was roaring.

  Focus.

  He pulled Caris’ face into his mind and focused on her, on her scent, her taste, her soul, the feel of her skin, her body, the snug fit of her cleft around his cock. And the feel of home that he had recognized the moment he had looked into her eyes as she stood staring at him while he waited for the sun to burn him to ashes. The sickness, the dizziness, the sensation of something trying to pull his body apart, swirled to a halt around him, and the tight grasp of Sage’s arms fell away—he had to give the mortal credit. He didn’t like Jax, it was quite clear. But he took his responsibility for his safety very seriously. Jax had a feeling that to falter and let loose while “teleporting” as Caris called it, would be a very, very bad thing.

  He stepped away, glad to feel firm ground under his feet and looked around, seeing four more human faces staring at him with varying degrees of surprise and distrust. Sage was staring at him expectantly, but Jax couldn’t figure out why until he picked up a number of pictures flashing through the dark-haired man’s mind. After teleporting with Sage, people usually collapsed to the ground, nauseated and weak, sweating, sometimes vomiting. This occurred after the first, and often the second experience.

  “Sorry to disappoint you,” Jax murmured, shifting his shoulders a little, straightening his flight suit and skimming the faces around him with a quick eye.

  Sage gave him a disgusted look before turning to the others. “This is a friend of Caris’. She was rather adamant he come with her, and before I bring her,” Sage said, jerking his head in Jax’s direction, “Her exact words were ‘I’m not going into detail about what he is. That’s his choice, his call. You want details, ask him. Not me.’ Be right back.”

  Jax’s eyes watered as a tremendous silent explosion seemed to shake the room, leaving an empty spot where Sage had stood. He turned his head, glancing over his shoulder at the four faces that stared at him with varying degrees of surprise, ranging from mild amusement and curiosity, to downright hostility. A tall, lean man with hair the color of snow moved out of the group. If he had judged just by the hair, and maybe the weariness of his eyes, Jax would have guessed the man was easily his own age, but fifty in human years was nothing to a vampire. But the man’s face was unlined, and he moved easily, confidently.

  “I am Morgan,” he said coolly, studying Jax with eyes the color of pale blue crystal. “I don’t particularly care if Caris wanted you here or not. This is my show, and these are my agents. Who in the fuck are you?”

  “Jax, my name is Jax,” he replied. He kept his shields down and open, taking his cue from the more open minds around. Morgan’s was not one of them. He wasn’t a true psy, but there was something about him.

  The swell of power filled the room, and Jax felt it, sensed it before the others. Sage and Caris were about to return, yet the others didn’t feel them coming. If they had, he believed they would have left it alone for the moment.

  A slim, tiny woman crept out from behind a bulky, brawny man. “His smell, it’s odd. I smell Caris. But something else. He’s not a Firewalker. But he’s not human, either.”

  Sage’s laughter filled the room, echoed by a deep sigh that came from Caris. “The cat’s out of the bag,” Sage said dryly.

  The small woman flashed Sage a dark look and Jax noticed something odd about her eyes. Her pupils were almost elliptical, like, well, a cat’s. Through another’s mind, he did not know whose, he saw the woman stalking through the streets in silence, making no sound, leaping out of the shadows like a panther taking down prey. She hunted like a great cat, and this shamed her. She had fantastic night sight, an incredible sense of smell, and she hated herself. She wore gloves on her hands, except when prowling, for her hands had claws, much like his own fangs. They were retracted, unless she was hungry or angry.

  Right now she was both.

  She was also in heat.

  Poor thing. A burning, aching mass of sexual frustration, and so full of need.

  But she was focused on having a man she didn’t think she could have, so she suffered through it.

  The brawny man was her brother, her twin, actually, though obviously not identical. Big and broad, with anger burning in the depths of his green eyes, his shaggy blond hair spilling over his forehead, he was a vibrating pillar of rage to Jax’s psychic senses.

  He moved away from the small woman and glared at Sage—obviously these three were used to being at odds. The man towered nearly a head taller than Jax, and Jax was easily one of the tallest in the room. This man must be a giant among mortals. “What are you?” he grumbled, his voice deep and throbbing.

  Caris moved in front of him and said, “That’s really not today’s issue, is it? I swear it, on my own soul, he can be trusted.”

  Morgan smiled, sardonically. “It’s not that easy, sweet. You cannot so easily bring a stranger among us. If he were one of us, it would be acceptable—not wise, without first consulting me—but acceptable. He is not one of us. And Anni says he’s not even human,” Morgan said, eyeing Jax with unreadable eyes.

  Jax moved to Caris’ side, feeling her heat, reveling in it. He was willing to do what she suggested.

  He wasn’t expecting the suggestion that came, or who it came from.

  I trust you, Sugar. Don’t know him, but I trust you. If he wants to bare his soul, he can. If it goes bad, I’ll get you both out of here. Morgan will calm down, and when he does, I’ll let you know.

  Caris’ eyelashes barely flickered. She had heard Sage’s whispered words as well. But no one else had. Can I trust him? he asked her.

  Yes. He’s a pain in the ass, but he is my best friend. He’d never betray me.

  He lifted his eyes to Sage and studied the bland hazel gaze that watched him closely. I hope you mean what you say, human. I do not think you are prepa
red for what I have to show you, he warned.

  Sage’s lashes lowered slowly, a ghost of a smile hovering around his mouth. She’s not the kind of person you can fool, pretty boy. No matter who or what you are. If she trusts you, then you are trustworthy. I know that. They ought to. Just stay close. If this goes bad, I don’t want to have to waste time going after two separate bodies. Keep a hold on her.

  Jax wrapped one brawny forearm around Caris’ slim waist and held her close as he lifted his eyes to Morgan’s. The man was waiting impatiently. He knew some silent communication was going on. “Caris, be careful what you do here,” Morgan said.

  “Be careful what you make me do here,” she replied, wrapping her fingers around Jax’s forearm. “I’ve been waiting my whole life for this man. I am not letting him go. Not for any reason. Our fight will continue, with or without me. I won’t let you force me into giving up something I need.”

  The underlying deep throbbing intensity of her voice had the others around them shifting their feet, moving restlessly in their seats and Morgan’s eyes narrowed. “Fuck it, Caris. You dreamed him?”

  “He exists, Morgan. He just didn’t exist in our dimension,” she snapped, cuddling back into Jax. He rubbed his chin against her hair, staring hard at the man who advanced on them.

  “How do you know?”

  “I’m not powerful enough to create a man out of nothing,” she scoffed. “I’m not God. For crying out loud, Morgan. Be realistic.”

  “I am being realistic. Your gift is unique, like nothing anybody has ever seen. How do we know—”

  Jax interrupted quietly, “I know. I existed long before she pulled me out of my world and into yours. And I imagine it’s not actually another dimension, just a different galaxy, one very, very distant from yours.” He frowned, sliding Caris a look. “If I could study some charts, I perhaps could even discover where I am in relation to where I was.” Then he drew one finger down her cheek. “Not that it matters. I will never leave your side.”

  “Oh, wonderful. A fucking spaceman,” the brawny man drawled, shaking his shaggy head.

  Jax choked off a laugh. “Not a spaceman,” he said, tucking his tongue into his cheek.

  “Then exactly what are you?” Morgan demanded. “You look human. But Anni is right. You do not feel human.”

  Jax let his fangs drop, letting the rage he always had to battle uncoil just a little. His eyes were glowing when he opened them to stare at Morgan and he whispered roughly, “Take a guess.”

  Chapter Five

  Caris knew she had friends among the Firewalkers, just as she knew Morgan would be angry when she brought an Outsider in without his express consent. He wouldn’t have given it.

  She hadn’t been surprised when Sage had offered his help.

  But the aid of another surprised her.

  Miguel moved out of the doorway where he had been watching all in silence. He had erected one of his barriers between Morgan and herself before Sage even had time to decide whether or not things were going badly. They hadn’t—exactly. At least not yet.

  But Dustin was getting ready to force the issue, his mind already made up as the others grappled with what they were seeing.

  The others were still trying to adjust to the fact that her lover had suddenly developed inch-long fangs and eyes that glowed and swirled and hypnotized. Miguel stood just inches from her side, one hand out, fingers spread, the solidifying, shifting, swirling barrier keeping Dustin from seizing Jax. That was Dustin’s first instinct against a threat, and why Sage had offered to get them out.

  “He’s not a threat to her or us, Dustin. Throttle down, buddy,” Miguel said quietly. Once the barrier was solid, his dusky hand dropped to his side and he slid Caris an amused look. “You always manage to do the damnedest things to liven up a party, chica.”

  She smiled tightly. “I wasn’t trying, honest.”

  He brushed his hair out of his eyes and met Morgan’s angry glare through the barrier. “What are you doing, Miguel?” he snarled.

  “Giving the man a chance, Morgan, just like you gave us. Dustin’s going into berzerker mode as we speak—” he glanced at the man built like a mountain who was pacing and clenching his ham-sized fists, shooting Miguel angry, darting venomous looks, “and we both know that if Dustin attacks, her friend is going to defend himself. What if he starts beating Dustin? Not an unlikely thing. Are you going to stand by and watch? So, I’m giving him a chance, without Dustin’s temper getting the better of him.”

  Dustin snarled, “Did you see those fucking teeth?”

  To their surprise, it was Anni who said quietly, silkily, “Dustin, haven’t you seen mine?” She flashed her baby fangs at them and moved up to the barrier, studying Jax intently. “I’ve never seen another predator on two legs before. But I know when I’ve run into one stronger than me. Exactly what are you?”

  “A vampire,” he said softly.

  There was silence in the room.

  Disbelief.

  Caris had expected laughter.

  But Jax didn’t compel that. Nothing about him compelled anybody to believe anything except that he was telling the truth. They may not trust him, they may fear him. But every last one of them believed him, whether they wanted to or not.

  “Vampires don’t exist,” Dustin said roughly, curling his fingers over his sister’s tiny shoulders. His hands looked massive on her slender frame. She reached up and laid one hand on his, holding it there, but she wouldn’t back away as he wanted her to.

  Jax lifted his eyes to the man who towered nearly a head above him and smiled slowly, letting him see the ivory teeth. “Perhaps not on your world, but they do on mine.”

  “How did you come to be here?” Anni asked, cocking her head and studying him intently, fascinated. Another predator…the words repeated in her mind, and Jax had an inkling of just how alone she’d felt, how much a freak.

  “Caris brought me here.” Lowering his head, he whispered against her neck, “Thank the Father—what did I do to deserve such a gift?”

  “There are more like you?” Morgan asked tightly.

  “Not here. But on my world? Many thousands, although we are slowly dying off. We are much feared, much hated in many parts. We’ve been repressed for the past ten centuries and our numbers are dying off. We cannot mate without permission, and though we can easily father children among our race, it is not allowed. Our offspring are killed the moment it is discovered that the woman is breeding. I am alive only because my mother went into hiding. By the time I was discovered, I was already two, and by that time, it would have been murder, and thus not allowed.”

  “This is bullshit,” Dustin snapped. “Vampires don’t exist! Not here, not on Earth. That’s a damned kid’s story. Vampires are not real.”

  “But I am vampire, and I am quite real.” He tossed his booted feet a quick glance and then looked at Dustin from under his lashes. “I am on your world, am I not? So I believe vampires exist on your world.”

  “The sun…” Anni cleared her voice. “I thought vampires had to sleep during the day.”

  Jax softened his voice. This woman may have the equipment to be a predator, but she was hardly meant to be one. “On my world, we must. But I think it is our suns. We have two, and when they rise, they bring about a change in our bodies that makes us fall into a deep sleep, and the touch of it will burn our flesh. Another galaxy I have traveled has three and none of my kind dare go there. The sun here stings my skin some, and hurts my eyes, but I feel no danger from it.”

  “Blood?”

  This came from Sage.

  “My life source,” he responded. “But while I am not ancient, I need little to maintain my strength. And it does not have to be human.” Then he got nasty. “Unless of course you want to donate. But I do not like men.”

  Sage sneered at him. “Caris?” He cocked a brow.

  She ignored him. He moved in her direction but Jax felt the mental command she sent to Sage. Don’t. That won’t help and
he hasn’t done anything I haven’t wanted and downright begged for, she insisted, keeping her eyes focused on the people in front of them.

  “Why are you feared?” Morgan asked coldly. He ignored everybody but Jax. He was certain of everybody but the vampire. Even Caris. Even if she walked away with the vampire, she was no threat to him, and she would help him every time he called on her. Sage was his—he was loyal to Morgan to his death, Miguel, Dustin, Anni, all of them.

  But the vampire, he was an unknown.

  Jax cocked his head and asked quietly, “Why are you? You are hated by your neighbors, your brothers, your friends. You meet in secret. And for the same reasons as I. Your young are killed in infancy by their own kind, something even my world has not yet stooped to. We are different, that is why I am feared on my homeworld, why you are feared on yours.

  “I am not like them. I can read their minds without even trying. I am ten times stronger than their strongest warrior.” He glanced at Dustin and smiled insolently. “As strong as your mountain looks there, I wager I could take him to the ground and turn this room red with his blood, had he laid one hand on me. If I had so desired it. I would not have. I would not harm the friends of my woman. But it is within my ability. I need only feed every few days. I can take more pain than your mind can possibly comprehend. I can coerce the minds of those who are not gifted with powers like mine, or Caris, or Sage. In my world, vampires live for one thousand years or longer, but I do not know if our years are the same as yours. I can run tirelessly, fight endlessly, move quicker than your mortal eyes can track.

  “At one time, my kind had enslaved the people of Oslina. For more than ten thousand years, they were our slaves, and we the masters. Eventually, we were overthrown. Our weaknesses, though few, are grievous and the mortals learned quickly how to exploit them. The wars took more than a thousand years, but for the past ten centuries, the mortals have ruled, and they have tightened their grip to where we are little more than dogs.”

  “You don’t look too submissive to me,” Morgan stated flatly.