Find Me If You Dare (Dreamcatcher Book 2) (13 page)

“I think I have something,” she said. “It’s another cold spot, a Protector. Like your frequency but slightly different.”

Interesting
. We each must have a fingerprint-like frequency—every Protector had one, but each was unique to the person.

“Who is it?” I asked, hoping she’d somehow worked out how to see Protectors. She
could
see Nightmares, after all. Unlike her, I couldn’t tell my kind apart from the living; they all looked the same to me. There was no beacon telling me who was dead and who wasn’t.

“I… I don’t know. They’re in that group.” Kayla pointed to where five people huddled near a college-aged guy painting, what looked like, an abstract version of the monument. This was going to take some finagling.

“How many people are you able to see in the huddle?” I asked.

“Four.”

Wonderful
—
I saw five, which meant the Protector was staying invisible. All we had to do was narrow it down. “Genders?”

“Three female, one male.”

“Hair color?”

“Black.”

“Got him.” The person she couldn’t see—our Protector—had brown hair and was the size of a bodybuilder.

After two hundred years of fighting alongside Dreamcatchers, my ability to read people had become second nature. This bloke’s eyes were hard and angry, like a man who’d seen far too much in his lifetime. This Catcher had been around for a while. Maybe longer than me. I swallowed. If he was on Richard’s side, at least I’d be quicker than him, given my smaller size. He just better not hit me first.

Coming up beside him, I tucked Kayla behind me so he couldn’t see her face. “Hey, mate.”

His head turned, and his cold, green eyes locked on me, unfaltering.

“I thought this was my post today,” I said. Giant flies danced in my stomach.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied, his voice as deep as a sub-woofer.

My heart raced. “This is where Richard told me to go. Am I supposed to check in with you or something?”

One corner of the Catcher’s mouth twitched. “I thought I recognized you, Daniel.”

Shit
.

The Catcher went visible and yanked my arm before I had a chance to react.

Run, Kayla!
I shouted through our bond.

She spun around, her hands up to fight. But in a split second, the Catcher slapped a metal cuff on my wrist and evaporated, taking me with him.

We landed in a dark cell.

Somebody protect Kayla!
I called to my team as I elbowed the Catcher in the face. He grunted, dropping my arm. I tried to evaporate but found myself in the same dungeon.
Damn
.

A strong fist punched me in the nose. Momentary blackness shot through my vision as blood gushed from my nostrils. Heat flushed through my body. Baring my teeth, I kicked the Catcher in the stomach as hard as I could. He bent over. I struck him in the temple, and he tipped. I reached out to strangle him—

He evaporated.

How the hell?

Reappearing behind me, the Dreamcatcher grabbed my head and slammed it against the stone wall. I yelped as my skull cracked. He punched my kidney, and I crumbled to the ground. My gaze caught the silver bracelet around my wrist. Hieroglyph-like markings were carved into the cuff. Was this how I was being kept here?

“All right. That’s enough,” a familiar Welsh accent filled the cell.

A shiver ran down my spine. “You’ve got to be kidding me.” I rolled onto my back with a cough. Richard stood in the doorway, a smug look on his face.

“I’m afraid not.” He stepped into the room. “If I wanted to tell you a joke, you’d be splitting with laughter.”

“Oh, shove off, you worthless piece of shit.”

“Ouch. I’m hurt. Alan, close his mouth for me, would you?”

Alan went to slam his foot into my face, but I grabbed his leg and pulled him to the ground. He hit with an echoing thud.
Take that, asshole
.

Richard laughed. “All right, now, that was pretty funny.”

Daniel, I’m fine. Where are you?
Kayla yelled in my head.

With Richard. I don’t know where.

I pushed myself into a seated position, resting against the wall. My head spun, and my face throbbed. Blood trickled from where my head had split, and I wiped my nose. “If you’re going to kill me, just get it over with.” I shoved my knuckles against the concrete floor, hiding the shakiness in my hands. I didn’t want to die, not before I made sure Kayla was safe.

Richard raised an eyebrow. “I’m not going to kill you, Daniel. I put a steep bounty on your head for a reason.”

I pressed my shaking hands harder against the ground. “Why?”

“Well, you did take my arrow, did you not?” He wiped my blood from the wall and rubbed it between his fingertips. “I need to make sure the effects of Margaret’s poison were successful.”

Margaret?
I’d assumed the poison was his.

“Now, Alan, be a dear and hold out your arm, please.” Richard drew a knife from his sleeve.

“What?” Alan asked.

“Hold out your arm.” Richard’s eyes flashed yellow as he stepped toward me.

My pulse spiked. Could it be this easy? If I moved fast enough, I might be able to get that knife off him and take him down before he realized what happened.

I readied to attack, hair lifting on the back of my neck. It was now or never. This bastard wasn’t going to gut me while I could still fight.

When he got close, I pushed myself off the ground. I swung a leg out to trip him, aiming to grab the blade out of his hand as he fell, but Richard raised a palm and shot a volt of electricity through me. I swore, flattening against the wall, cringing as every inch of me sizzled. Richard sliced my leg with the dagger.

“Well, that was easier than I thought,” he said, stepping away. Tipping the knife so the droplets of my blood didn’t roll off, he nodded at Alan.

Alan’s nostrils flared, but he rolled up his sleeve. Richard sliced a small gash into the Catcher’s forearm, mixing my blood with his.

“See, I’m guessing that Trishna thinks she healed you of Margaret’s poison,” Richard said. “But you were sick for maybe, what, three days? And all of a sudden, you woke up and the veins were gone.”

A chill shot down my spine. That’s exactly what happened. Three days of unconsciousness, and then I was fine—or, so I thought.

Alan fell to his knees with a shout. From his wound, dark, spidery veins spread up his arm. My heart raced.

“In reality,” Richard continued, “you’re still carrying the disease. All it takes is a little blood contact, and it spreads. Now, Alan will be ill for three days, and if his body’s strong enough, he’ll wake up. Just like you did.”

“You’re mad.” My hands clammed, and I dug my fingertips into the ground.

He shrugged. “Some would argue I’m brilliant. I mean, come on, Daniel—how many times do I have to explain that I’m trying to open the world for people like you and me? To walk freely, unafraid to be who we really are?”

Alan rolled onto his back, shaking with seizure. Black foam filled his mouth as his eyes rolled into his head. He screamed one last time, then stilled.

Richard pressed his fingers to Alan’s neck. “Guess his body couldn’t take it. Oh well. At least I know the poison works.”

My nostrils flared. Whatever he had planned needed to end now. I didn’t care if I died—I was taking him down.

I jumped off the floor, fighting the nauseating pain in my head, and tackled Richard. Pulling the knife from his hand, I aimed for his throat, but Richard blasted me off him with a burst of air. The metal only scratched his cheek.

I flew into the ceiling. The impact knocked the wind out of me, and I crashed to the floor. My right arm snapped beneath me. I shouted as bone pierced through skin, then rolled onto my back, clutching my arm to my body.

Unwanted tears burned my eyes. I’d never be able to fight him now. How many people were going to die because I’d failed to stop him? If he kept me locked in here, planning to use my blood to sicken God knows how many people… I couldn’t let that happen. Somehow, I’d have to find a way to end it—to end me.

Richard stood, brushing himself off. “Well, I was going to be a nice guy and clean you up before sending you back to your friends.”

What?
A shiver ran down my spine. Somehow, knowing he
didn’t
need me was more terrifying.

“But after that, I’m not feeling very generous.” He rolled his neck. “In fact, I think I’ll give you a little preview of what’s to come.”

He snapped his fingers, and from the ceiling dropped a Nightmare, larger than the one that had thrown me into the window in Kayla’s hospital room. My heartbeat thrashed in my ears. I winced, sinking as far into the wall as I could, trembling from head to toe. Without my Dreamcatcher blades, I had no way to protect myself—the Nightmare was going to rip me to pieces.

Heat rolled up the back of my neck. I’d rather Richard had outright killed me.

“Until now,” he said, “Nightmares had no effect on your kind. But I’ve been in your head, Daniel. Oh yes. That nightmare you had was me. I know the poison worked on you. Now, see what will happen once the sickness has infected everyone, including all you Protectors.” He spat out the last word.

The Nightmare gripped my head between its clawed hands, the points of its nails digging into my scalp. I squirmed, whimpering through clenched teeth. Its scaly mouth opened, hovering over mine, its cold breath a nauseating wave of pure sulfur. Bile burned my throat as terror filled my body, hot and stabbing, like I’d overdosed on morphine. Was this what Kayla had felt every time I failed protecting her?

Kayla, I’m so sorry
, I sent off, praying she would hear me. A soft, grayish glow flowed from deep in the Nightmare’s throat. I squeezed my eyes closed as a single tear broke free.

What are you talking about? What’s happening?
she replied.

I love you. Don’t ever forget that.

What? Daniel, no, don’t let go!

A chill, so cold that it burned, exploded in my head and chest. A primal roar ripped from my throat as a hooded person with bright yellow eyes bound me with chains and ripped Kayla apart before my eyes, piece by piece. Her wails tore a hole in my soul. Flames scorched my feet, but I didn’t die. My raw, blistered, blackened body was tossed in a shallow grave and covered with dirt until it filled my lungs. Until I suffocated on the earth and my blood.

I gagged as the Nightmare played my worst fears on a loop, choking on my screams as tears fell from the corners of my eyes. “Kill me, please!” I screamed. Again, Kayla’s cries followed me to my grave. “Please! I’m begging you.”

The Nightmare backed away. I slumped flat on my back, weak and useless, every ounce of energy zapped from my cells. Rasping breaths entered my lungs as I fought for control over my racing pulse.

Richard lingered over me, grasping my shirt in his fist. “Not today. But you can count on it.” He grabbed the wrist that wore the metal cuff—the arm I had broken. The shackle fell from my joint. I yelped, pain forcing white spots in my gaze. I didn’t know how much more I could take.

“Now, go join your friends,” he said. “And do tell my daughter I said hello.”