Dreamer (30 page)

He gaped at her, and she plowed ahead, shaking her sword at
him. “The next thing I know demons are trying to kill me, my best friend is in
a coma, and everywhere I look children are turning into black-eyed demons. You
know what really fucking sucks about the whole thing?” He mutely shook his head
at her with the beginnings of a smile twitching his lips. She quickly looked
away from him, for she had seen that smile on her own face every time she
looked in a mirror. “I find out that my
father
is the one who is responsible for all of this horror.”

“You don't understand—”

“What don't I understand? That you're the Chosen of a
Destruction God? That you have been kidnapping children's souls? That you
killed my mother, you bastard!” She screamed those last words right in his
face, unaware that in her fury she had stalked toward him. Her mother never
would have been targeted if her father hadn’t gone Destruction, never would
have been in that car accident and never would have been taken from Shan.

As quick as a snake, he struck her sword away, and she
watched in silent horror as it spun through the undulating light of the child's
dream world. Time seemed to slow down as he clasped his hands around her
forearms like steel cuffs. He must have been shielding before because suddenly
she was overwhelmed by the stink coming off him. She silently prayed to her
goddess, but Chuang Mu was silent. She had failed. She had let her emotions
rule her, and now she was going to pay the price. Invisible bands of air
wrapped around her, and her aura burned where his touched.

“We don't have much time, so listen to me.” She stared
dumbly at him, gazing into his face and trying to find some indication of when
he was going to kill her. His thumbs dug into her arms until she instinctively
jerked away. The pain helped clear her head, and he relaxed his grip. “You have
to let me into your mind.”

“Are you insane!” she screeched and struggled to pull away.
“No way I'm letting a murdering—”

“I can see you’ve got my temper. I'm sorry, but I have to
see.” Before she could tell him no, he ripped through her shields as if they
weren't even there. The touch of his mind on hers was revolting, and she choked
on a bubble of bile that rose from her stomach into her throat. It must have
been no better for him because he choked as well.

“Let
there be truth between us,”
he whispered into her mind. Memories
flew before her eyes like the pages of a book being flipped at an impossible
speed. Here, trying on her prom dress then learning how to ride a bike and back
to her first day of kindergarten. Back and back to her earliest memories of her
parents singing to her in her cradle. In that golden moment, everything was
perfect in her world. Her belly was full of milk, the pajamas soft against her
skin, and the smiles that her parents rained down on her made her tiny heart
swell with love. She couldn't form a coherent thought, still trying to surface
from the memories that he had made her relive. The best she could do was jerk
away when he raised a hand to touch her face.

“Shan, I didn't kill your mother. The Creation Gods did.”
His eyes blazed with fury then softened to a look she refused to give a name
to. “That bitch Chuang Mu was jealous of the love your mother gave me. She
wanted it all for herself. When Liu refused to leave me, Chuang Mu chased us
down and made me fall asleep at the wheel. That's why we crashed. I was trapped
in my own mind, my own dreams, for twenty-five years before Epiales finally
found me and freed me. I had prayed with all of my heart and soul that you and
Liu survived. You cannot imagine my anguish when I found out you both were
dead.”

There was no denying the sorrow in his voice, but she
hardened her heart against it. Either he was lying or he was delusional.
“You're wrong,” she said after picking up her sword and sheathing it. She would
never be able to outfight him and force him to reveal where the children were.
He was so much stronger than she was and had the benefit, and curse, of having
spent the last quarter century in the dream world. Chuang Mu had chosen her not
for her skill in fighting, but because she was the one person left in the world
that he would listen to. The last person who might be able to reach him. Like
Chuang Mu had said, he was still as capable of love as Shan was of hate.
“Someone told my mother that you were planning on sacrificing me.”

“I would
never
do
that.” The vehemence in his words took on a weight of their own in this world
of fantasy, and the very fabric of the dream rippled about them. “I loved you
from the moment I knew you existed.”

Oh, how she wanted to believe that, but she didn't dare.
“Don't—”

“You will listen to me!” he thundered. “Your precious
goddess and the rest of those supposedly perfect Creation gods have kept me
trapped here, separated from my body and refusing to let me die and join your
mother. My High Priestess and Epiales have done everything they can to kill my
body, but the Creation Chosen guarding it won't let them get near me.” He
pointed to the child on the ground behind her. “I had to do this. My god is
kind, and he heard my prayers. He showed me that the only way they would ever
let me die, let me escape my prison, would be to hold the souls of their
children as hostage.” He shifted and looked over his shoulder at the vortex.
“They are all safe in the Spirit Realm. The children have no idea what is going
on. I have them in a beautiful dream, and they will be released, unharmed, when
I die.”

“Die? What do you mean when you die?”

“Because that's what I want more than anything else in the
world! I want to die and join your mother in the afterlife. When my body
breathes its last breath, the dream that the children's souls are held in will
break, and they will return to their bodies, unharmed and safe.”

“Unharmed? Seriously! How am I supposed to believe that when
you gave those children's bodies to demons? Is that your idea of being
unharmed?”

His brows drew down in a dark line. “What are you talking
about?”

She wanted to smack herself for almost falling for his
trick. Oh, he was good at pretending to be confused. Even his aura radiated
uncertainty. “You know, all black eyes, strength of twenty men, trying to kill
their parents?”

“That can't be. Without their souls, their bodies are like
mine, an empty shell. Even I don't have the power to open a pathway for another
spirit to inhabit them. My powers come from manipulating the dream world, not
reality.” He paced between her and vortex, and she wondered what would happen
if she pushed him in. She must have broadcast that thought in some way because
he gave her a reproachful look and stepped away from the portal. “You must be
wrong. I would have known if something like that was happening.”

“Yeah, well, I can't be alive either, according to you, so
I'd say there is a lot you don't know.”

He locked his arms behind his back and began to pace so
quickly his form became a blur. “I would have known. I see the world through
Maria's eyes—”

“Who?”

“A High Priestess of Epiales. Through my god's mercy, I have
a bond with her that allows me to see the outside world.” He fisted his hands
in his hair. “I
saw
your grave, Liu's
grave. Maria laid flowers on them for me.”

“That bitch.” Shan took a deep breath and blew it out her
nose. Could that woman really be responsible for all of this? “Brown hair,
about so tall with giant tit—a big chest?”

“You know her?” He shook his head. “No, she would have
recognized you, shown you to me.”

“Unless she didn't want you to know I was alive.” Pieces of
the puzzle began to fall into place, and she talked aloud as she tried to fit
them together. “She said I was dead. Lie. She told you your body was being held
prisoner. Lie. She obviously hid the truth from you about the children. Another
lie.”

“But why? Why would they do this to me?” He rubbed the
bridge of his nose with a shaking hand.

She tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. “Could Maria
have done this on her own? Could Epiales?”

“No.” He gave a bitter laugh. “I'm one of the strongest
dreamers ever born. The gods fought over me to be their Chosen. But I never
would have agreed to giving the bodies of the children to demons. Never. All
this time they have been lying to me. All these years, trapped in a world of
eternal mourning, I have suffered. What a fool I have been, letting them
manipulate me until I was so eager to end this that I would do anything. Even
steal the souls of children.”

He traced a pattern in the air, and a beautiful Asian woman
appeared between them with infinite compassion and love in her eyes. Shan's
heart ached, and she greedily tried to absorb every detail of her mother's
face. He reached out to stroke the image, and it dispersed like smoke beneath
his fingertips. “My cursed vanity. That was what got me in trouble in the first
place. I wanted to provide Liu with the best of everything right away. When Epiales
came to me and showed me his power, I was drunk on my own arrogance. Finally,
here was someone besides Liu who recognized my inherent greatness. No working
myself to the bone like my father did for a shitty little house in the suburbs,
scrimping and saving for the rest of our lives. No, I was going to become the
Master of Dreams. I was such a fool.”

His words left her in stunned silence. Before she could give
herself time to rethink her actions, she took his hand in her own. He paused
and searched her face. “Are you happy? Were you raised by people who loved
you?”

She thought of the unconditional love she had received
growing up, what a great life her parents had given her, and how she never
would have known them if it wasn't for the tragedy surrounding her birth. While
her heart ached for a mother she would never know, she couldn't imagine having
a better childhood than the one she’d had. Her dad and father were her parents,
the people who had raised her since birth with absolute love and devotion. Not
sharing the same genetics with them had absolutely nothing to do with them
being her family. “I have the best parents any girl could ever want.”

The smile he gave her was filled with happiness. “I couldn't
have asked for anything more. Do you have someone special in your life?”

A hot blush burned her cheeks as she nodded. Oh yes, Devon
was special. Everything that she had ever wanted, even when she was too afraid
to admit to herself what that was. “I do. He's a Chosen of Mentu.”

“Another Chosen, good. I don't want you to have to face the
hell of outliving your beloved.” He took a deep breath. In a voice so low she
had to lean in to hear, he whispered, “You have to kill me.” The smile he gave
her was devoid of humor. “If I could have found my way back, I would have
pulled out my life support twenty-five years ago when your mother died and took
my heart with her.”

A lump formed in her throat, and she had to swallow past it
to whisper, “Can't someone else do it?”

“I could hope another Creation dreamer could hunt me down,
but by then, it may be too late to save the children.” He glanced over at the
little boy still crumpled on the ground. “You have to end this, Shan.”

Frustration added a bite to her words. “So what am I
supposed to do?”

His grip on her hand tightened until it was almost painful.
“You are a Chosen of Chuang Mu. Your actions here are as real as your actions
in the mortal world. Take your sword and run it through my heart, but you must
do it with the intention of killing me. Your will is what makes reality bend,
your conviction. If you waver in your decision, I will merely suffer on the end
of your blade, on the cusp of dying until this dream ends when that child
awakens.”

“What?” She tried to jerk away from him, but he held on fast
and cupped her cheek with his other hand.

“Shan, we don't have much time. My connection with Epiales
allows him to feel my emotions. I'm trying as hard as I can to shield myself,
but I'm afraid some of my joy is slipping through.”

“I think he already knows I'm here. Or, at least, something
does.”

“I'll wake the child before anything that can harm you
arrives, but I'm afraid Epiales might lock me away someplace where you will
never find me, and I will lose my chance to die.”

She hated him all over again for making her do this. True,
when she had entered the world of dreams, she had fully intended to kill him,
but actually taking his life scared the hell out of her. “How will I know if it
worked? That you’re dead and not suffering?”

“My hold on the children will be released, and this dream
will end. If you...do what I'm asking, and I'm still here, it didn't work.” He
placed a kiss on her forehead. “You are your mother's daughter. She was the
strongest woman I’ve ever met, and the most loving. I know you can do this.”

A tear trickled down her cheek, and she angrily fisted it
away. “Fuck. I wish—”

“I know. I'm so sorry, Shan. More than you could ever
imagine.” He dropped her hand and took a step back. Turning around, he sank to
his knees with his back facing her. “Please.”

She unsheathed her sword and gripped the hilt so hard it
hurt. In the odd undulating light of the misty carnival, the blade seemed to
glow with its own inner light. A quick glance showed that her father hadn't
moved an inch. His shoulders were loose and relaxed with his hands hanging limp
at his sides.