by Maya Nicole
We landed at a miniature golf course. As soon as I released his hand, he shoved me.
"Where's Toby?" He looked around frantically. "Toby!"
"He's fine. He's safe."
Asher grabbed the front of my shirt and shoved me against a large, decorative boulder.
"We have to go back and get him! We can't just leave him there! He'll die!"
I'd never experienced this before with Danica. He was still freaking the fuck out. I tried to reign the control of him, but it wasn't working.
"Calm down, man! I'll go get him, okay?" I didn't know what the fuck I was saying.
I tried to make Tobias appear, but Asher had taken over the dream himself. His pupils were pinpricks in his irises as he looked around again. His grip loosened a bit.
"You'll bring him here too?" His hands shook as he held onto my shirt.
"I'll get Danica too. Just... stay here and don't freak out."
I walked away from him and took several deep breaths. I had never attempted to merge people into dreams together before. I knew my father could do it, but before he could train me on the finer points of it, I had killed him.
I floated above them in the tent. Asher had rolled away from Danica and curled into a tight ball, fisting the sleeping bag covering him. I didn't want to move him, so I laid down in the small space between them. I put my hand over hers and a hand on Asher's back.
She stirred but didn't wake. Tobias snored softly and tightened his grip on her. I focused on all three brains and pushed in.
My head spun as I grabbed Tobias out of his dream, which had an awful lot of sex going on, and Danica out of hers, which had her lying on a beach somewhere. I was somewhat surprised she was having a good dream for once.
At least, that's how it appeared. Knowing her dreams, some kind of monster would come out of the water and try to eat her.
I landed with Tobias and Danica at the miniature golf course again to find Asher sitting against the boulder he had shoved me into with his knees drawn to his chest.
"I brought them. See?" I approached him, and he looked up. He looked like hell, with bloodshot eyes.
I offered him my hand, and he took it.
"What is this, Reve?" Danica stepped towards Asher with concern etched on her features and then took him in her arms. He buried his face in her neck.
"Regular angels are weakened in Inferna. I could get into his nightmare. I had no clue they were that bad."
"Toby?" Asher finally pulled away from Danica and looked at Tobias. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Tobias grabbed Asher and pulled him into a hug, smacking him on the back. "Which one was it this time?"
"The warehouse."
"Damn." Tobias sighed and put his hands on Asher's shoulders. "I'm sorry."
Danica disappeared and then reappeared with putters and golf balls. "Let's knock some balls around."
I kept a close eye on Asher as we moved through the golf course. He seemed to relax more and more, but I still felt like he was in control of the dream instead of me.
"You're staring at me." Asher turned towards me after taking a putt through a moving obstacle. "I'm fine now."
"Are you? If you were, you'd loosen up a bit more." I set my ball on the tee and hit it through the spinning blades of the windmill. It sailed through with no problem. "We need to wake up soon."
I was nervous that I wouldn't be able to wake the three of them up with Asher in control. I didn't even know how he was holding onto control like he was.
"Maybe we shouldn't wake up." We walked along the path behind Tobias and Danica. He had his hand in the back pocket of her jeans. "At least here we’re safe."
"Our minds are safe. Our bodies are lying in a tent in the middle of Inferna with a crazy-ass demon woman sitting in power."
"Then why don't you go and take care of her. I'm sure you can get the drop on her with your invisibility. You watched us for over a month, and we never even knew."
"You make me sound like a creeper."
He turned and grinned at me. "You are a creeper."
"Fuck you, Asher." I shoved his arm and caught up to Tobias and Danica. "We need to get him out of here."
"But he's so relaxed now. A little longer?" Danica slid her arm around my waist, and I shut my eyes.
"If we stay any longer, you might get stuck here. Like, be in a coma kind of stuck."
"That wouldn't be a bad thing, would it?"
Fuck, they were all spiraling now.
This had been a mistake. The only way I could think to get them out was to turn the dream into a nightmare. The little control I had still only extended to the environment.
I stood in the center of the path and looked at them. "I'm sorry."
The ground exploded around us.
Chapter Twelve
Danica
I woke with a scream and nearly butted heads with Tobias, who was breathing heavily. Everything had been fine, and then the explosion happened. It had felt so real.
Asher.
Sobs shook his body. I placed a tentative hand on his back, and he jerked away from the touch.
"Asher... sweetie. It's okay. We're okay." I tried a hand again, and this time he didn't cringe at my touch.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Reve was standing up, slightly hunched over so his head wouldn't hit the ceiling of the tent. "I thought-"
"Get out, Reve." Tobias sat up and glared at him. "What the fuck were you thinking? He isn't Danica!"
"I thought-"
"Get out before I throw you out."
Reve looked at me with pleading eyes. I wasn't sure how to feel about the whole thing. On one hand, he had really fucked. On the other, he had been trying to help Asher, not hurt him.
But that explosion.
He disappeared before I could say anything. Tobias ran a hand over his face and let out a shaky breath.
"Jesus Christ. What the fuck?" Tobias moved closer to Asher and me. "Are you okay?"
I nodded and moved my hand in small circles on Asher's back. He was still shaking, but his sobs had stopped. What had Reve been thinking?
"He shouldn't have been able to do that." Tobias put his hand on Asher's shoulder.
"We wouldn't let him end the dream." Asher shook his head. "The fucker didn't have to make an explosion, though."
"I'll go talk to him." I ran my fingers through my hair the best I could, and then pulled my hair back into a ponytail. "Is it even daytime? I can't tell."
The sky was still dark, but it was slightly warmer than before we went to sleep. I climbed out of the tent and spotted Alaric stirring something in a pot over the fire.
"Have you seen Reve?" I joined him next to the fire and held my hands out over the flames. For being hell, it was a little on the cold side.
Alaric looked at me with furrowed brows and then laughed. "I doubt he'd show himself around me."
"We need to leave soon, and he disappeared." I hugged my arms around myself.
"I was talking to a few of my men last night. We'd like to help you." He scooped some of what looked like oatmeal into a bowl and handed it to me. "At least until you get to the castle."
"I don't see why not. You know your way around here better than we do."
"Plus, your angels are weakening."
"Excuse me?" I paused halfway to my mouth with a spoonful of oatmeal. "What do you mean they're weakening?"
"I'm a predator. I can sense a weakened animal. Even last night, I could smell them weakening." He started eating his food while walking away. "Let them know they can help themselves to breakfast."
I turned and walked back to the tent. At least now I understood how Reve could get into their dreams.
We set off about an hour later. Alaric and three of his men joined us. Reve hadn't returned, no matter how much we called out for him. He had to be staying invisible to avoid us. There was no way he would leave us.
"It should take a few hours to get to the castle. Once we're there, there's a secret entrance we c
an use to get you inside." It was hard to take anything Alaric said seriously because he had a miniature monkey on his shoulder.
"We appreciate you helping us since Reve left us high and dry." Tobias was holding my hand as we walked.
Asher grunted from the other side of me and looked straight ahead. "I just want this all to be over."
I sighed. I wanted it all to be over too. For so long, I had wanted to experience hell for myself, but now that I was here, I missed Earth.
Alaric stopped suddenly, and Picard made a small squeaking noise. Before Alaric even had time to react, a dart hit him in the neck. He turned slowly towards us before his eyes rolled back, and he collapsed in a heap.
The other three men were hit with darts and fell as well. Picard was jumping up and down on Alaric's chest, making really loud screeching noises for such a small creature.
Tobias and Asher pulled their swords and put me in between them. We looked into the trees but didn't see anyone or anything.
It would have been a good time for Reve to appear. Just as I had the thought, ten men dropped from the trees in front of us. We backed up several steps as they fanned out into the forest.
I pulled a knife from my belt and threw it at one of the men. It hit him in the shoulder, and even from the distance, I could see his eyes turn black.
"Oh, shit." My body was screaming at me to run, but instead, I pulled out another knife and prepared to fight.
Darts came whizzing towards us, and Tobias spread his wings and took them in his left one. He winced and fell to the forest floor, his wings retracting as he fell.
"I'll fight them off. Run." Asher took a step forward and dodged a dart.
I hesitated for only an instant before I took off back towards the campsite. I could only hope that none of the demons had managed to circle around. I zig-zagged to avoid any darts aimed my way and felt like I was making progress when arms went around my waist.
I screamed as I was lifted off the ground and thrown over a shoulder. My knife was still in my hand, so I swung my arm and stabbed the demon in the back. He laughed and turned back in the direction I had just come from.
"Bring them all." He spoke sternly to the other men as we passed through the area where Alaric and his men, Asher, and Tobias were lying on the ground.
"Where are you taking us?" I grabbed onto the knife and pulled it out. There was no blood, and his wound closed instantly.
"Your knife does nothing to me, young one." I stabbed him again. "You can stab me all you want."
"Where. Are. You. Taking. Us." I made sure to annunciate each word in case he didn't understand me. I squirmed, and his hand pressed more firmly into me as he carried me in the direction of the castle.
"There's a bounty on your head. Her Highness said you'd be in this direction. She wasn't wrong."
A motherfucking bounty? How had she even known we were here? Did Tobias's suppression not work anymore?
"Whatever she's offering you, I can pay double." I tried to pull the knife out again, but it was stuck in his back as if he was holding it in.
I really couldn't pay this demon, but he didn't need to know that. It seemed like the thing to say. I didn't know how smart these demons were.
He grunted, and the knife fell out of his back and to the ground before I could catch it. "My whole life, I have dreamed of having a place at the castle. I don't think you can top that."
"I don't understand."
His deep baritone laugh shook me as we walked. "You really are from Earth, aren't you? I didn't believe it when I heard it. Queen Lilith's daughter, a human."
"I'm not a-" I stopped as we came out of the trees, and a castle rose up in front of us. "There really is a castle. Holy shit."
Sometimes when someone tells you something exists, you don't believe it until you see it with your very own two eyes. The castle seemed to rise out of the ground and looked exactly like a castle straight out of a fairytale.
This was no fairytale, though.
I should have been fighting more, trying to escape, not gawking at the castle. We entered what appeared to be a small village until we came to a stone building with bars for windows.
"You will stay here until she fulfills her end of the bargain." We entered into what was definitely a jail.
He set me down in a cell, and the others put Asher and Tobias in with me. They were still knocked out cold from whatever was in the darts. Alaric and his men were placed in a cell next to us.
"Let us go."
He laughed again and shook his head. "We aren't idiots, young one. Your tricks don't work on us."
The demon who had carried me and one of the others stopped at the entrance of the jail and stood facing each other. They were having a hushed conversation, and then, all of a sudden, they turned to stone.
"What the fuck?" I squinted, trying to see better. There was some light in the cell, but not much.
The stone figure slowly turned its head in my direction, and its eyes turned red. I backed up, and it swiveled its head back towards the other.
I was going crazy. I sat down against the stone wall and shut my eyes, hoping that when I reopened them, I'd be back to reality, and two gargoyles wouldn't be holding us hostage.
I stood outside Reve's door and knocked for the fifth time. Where was he?
I moved to the window and peeked in. I could see the pristine white countertop of the kitchen, and that was it. He was ignoring me or wasn't home.
"I'm going to steal your bike! You better open up!" I knocked one last time before making my way to his crotch rocket. He could fly. It seemed like a useless toy.
I threw my leg over it and sat on the leather seat. It was a sexy-looking bike.
"That's a good look for you." Reve appeared next to me and gave me a small smile. "I like to see you with your legs spread."
I grinned and leaned forward. "I bet they'd look even better wrapped around you."
He made a noise in his throat and moved onto the bike seat behind me. His lips brushed the shell of my ear. "I'm going to get you out of here, Dani. I promise."
"You left." I sighed as his lips moved down to my neck, and he breathed a sigh against my skin. "Why'd you leave?"
"I was scared you wouldn't forgive me."
He placed his hand on my thigh, and I covered it with mine. "I'm sure Tobias would have kicked your ass, but then they would have forgiven you. Eventually."
He pulled me back against him and wrapped both arms around me. "I have to go get reinforcements. My abilities don't work against the demons in this village. They are using a rare herb called Tutela. That also means they are even more dangerous because they are truly Lilith's followers."
"Please hurry."
"I love you, Dani."
I turned, and he kissed my cheek before vanishing.
My eyes fluttered open to find Asher staring at me. His eyes were bloodshot, and a crease had formed between his eyebrows as if he had been thinking too hard.
"Reve?" he whispered.
I shifted on the floor and winced as my tailbone protested sitting on the hard ground. I nodded.
"I can tell when he's in your head. You get this look on your face like you're... home." He looked at me thoughtfully. "I think that's how I felt when he was in my head. That's why I didn't want to leave the dream."
I scooted closer to him and wrapped my arms around him, putting my chin on his arm and looking up at him. "It can be addictive. Escaping in the dreams."
"What did he say?" Tobias stretched his arms over his head and then stood. He was looking around the cell as if it was suddenly going to have a weakness in the bars.
"He's going for reinforcements," I whispered. "Alaric said you two are weakened here. That's why Reve could get in your head and how Lilith knew where we were."
"Fuck." Asher ran a hand over his face and shook his head as if he couldn't believe it.
"Do you think Olly is weaker here too?" Tobias sat down on the other side of me.
I shru
gged. "My dad isn't. At least I don't think he is. If he was, how could he have so much control over the demons he works with?"
"They used to be human." Alaric's sleep-filled voice came from the other side of the bars. "Humans are weak from what I know of them."
Picard climbed out of his jacket and scurried over to our cell. As if to prove Alaric's point, it jumped up onto Asher's thigh and then chomped down on his finger.
Asher was about ready to whack it clear back to Earth. Before he could, I picked it up between my thumb and forefinger.
It let out a flurry of squeaks as I held it by the back of its neck like it was a cat. "You are a bad monkey!"
Its little eyes welled with tears, and its tiny lip quivered. Jesus, why was he so cute?
I put him back down, and he ran to Alaric's open palm on the ground.
"Can't that little shit break us out of here or something?" Asher glared at Picard. Picard turned around and spit his tongue out. "He has a fucking piss-poor attitude."
"The last man that spoke poorly of Mr. Ferdinand had his dick bitten off in his sleep." Alaric scratched Picard behind the ear. I laughed as Asher put his hands over his dick.
"I can't believe I’m sitting here watching a demon wolf shifter talk to his pet monkey." Tobias ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck.
A silence fell over us as the reality of our situation grew bleaker. Alaric confirmed that the two stone men at the entrance were gargoyles. Even if we could make it out of the cells, the gargoyles would stop us from leaving.
I leaned against Asher and ran through the last several months. When I had punched John in the face, I would have never thought my actions would lead me to being stuck in a musty and damp cell in hell.
"What if it's one big giant nightmare?" I was playing with Asher's fingers. His head was back against the stone wall.
"Not all of it has been a nightmare. Has it?" I felt Tobias shift next to me. His hand slid behind me to rest on my hip.
Alaric looked over at us with curiosity written in his eyes. He hadn't said anything in a while. None of his men had.