Into Death's Arms (20 page)

 
 
 
 
“Your father is looking for you
, Laith
.” Nikissos answered as he went to a sink with a mirror over it. He really did look like hell. It was hard to see bruising on a face already pitch black
,
but there was no mistaking the streaks of silver that meant open wounds.
Or
,
the slow slide of the
silver fluid
leaking
from those wounds;
w
ounds that should have been healed before he
had
unlocked the door.

 
 
 
 
 
  Laith
,
aka yummy looking
Shifter
,
rolling around in the
Dream-walker
’s
bed said,
“Yeah, I
know. Came to tell you Good-bye.
I’m not gonn
a do it. I’m not gonna kill
her
just because my old man hates her
dad
.
Especially not that her
,
you know.
” He
paused,
Huh? I thought. “Does she look like her?” H
e asked.

  
Nikissos shook his head no,
“She resembles her father.”

   T
he
Shifter
shrugged,
“y
eah
, s
o I’m outta here.” He pushed himself away from the bed.
He was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He looked like an Abercrombie model.  Yeah, the
y always look ready for bed.
I was so happy someone had heard of a color other than black. He stretched
and
his shoulders popped as he moved. Muscles rippled underneath that t-shirt and I found myself shaking my head. It really wasn’t fair. I just wanted one okay looking human. Instead, I got man-candy a plenty in the form of critters that eat humans. It sucked.
“Man this place is small.
I wish I could take you with me. Y
ou’ve been a good friend.” He sighed holding out his hand.
His nails were neat and his hands clean
. “
I’ll keep looking for a way to get that thing off your neck. I just can’t stay.”

 
 
 
Nikissos looked away from the mirror then nodded and took his hand. “May you avoid the Ao my friend.” He said taking the other man’s hand.
I’d heard that was a pretty common form of salutation amongst the
Shadow-born
. I wasn’t offended I kind of hoped this guy avoided me too. It’s got to be hard to kill something when you keep tripping over your own tongue.

 
 
 
 
“
You too,” t
he
Shifter
shook his hand
, his eyes were filled with regret, but he left
and
Nikissos
was
alone.

 
 
 
 
 
He turned back toward the mirror. He wiped his face with a clean cloth. “You still in
there,
AoD?” H
e asked. Shit
,
he
did know I was dream walk
ing him.
“I liked Iris. I didn’t want to kill her. I have done the only thing I could do for her now by warning her daughter. The
Shifters
a
re coming for you AoD. Be ready,
” He pulled my mother’s locket from a drawer below the sink. “And for Shade
’
s sake
,
learn to block out
Dream-walkers
.” He opened the locket
,
and I was slammed back into reality.

     Great, I thought as I stumbled into the kitchen
and flipped
on the coffee pot.
Shifters
!
Shifters
weren’t all that much worse than
Vamp
ires
except… except they traveled in groups of five to seven called packs. One on one a
Vamp
and a
Shifter
were
evenly
matched.
I mean shifters were a little stronger
,
but they didn’t have that annoying mind control thing going on.
Breathe, I told myself. This is what automatic weapons were for, right? I got into t
he hidden safe that kept all of our
illegal
weapons
and had to admit I
felt
less scared with an
oozy
slung around my neck.
God, that Dream-walker
,
Nikissos
;
he was the one who’d killed my
mother. I so wanted to find him.
I wanted to repay him for every moment of my childhood when I’d needed a mother and had been stuck with a loving but very male father.

   
The
phone rang and I jumped
about
a foot. Great, just great, 6
a.m. and I was already jumpy.
Boy,
oh boy, I could
n’t wait until nightfall. It rang again. “Macyn,” I answered.

       “Hey Macy,” Laurna’s voice was loud and cris
p. Sometimes I hated her, “IHoP?” S
he asked
brightly
.
Right
now,
I needed comfort and normality, and
Laurna was as normal as it got.

     
I took a deep breath.
“You’re paying,” I answered.

        She laughed
,
all bright and happy.

       Grrrrrr, was there a wor
d for killing your best friend l
ike patricide was the word for
killing
your father
. W
as it like friendacide? Cause her happy ass
was in the running. “K, fifteen,
” she asked
cheerfully
.

     “Need thirty,” I mumbled back. I needed a shower and
coordinating
a decent
outfit that covered up the kind of hardware I was
carrying
took some work. I wasn’t worried about Laurna
. T
he
likelihood
that
Shifters
would sh
ow up at IHoP was slim to none
but just in case.

      
Maybe I should worry a little about her, I thought.
“K,
” she hung up.

       I dressed; fortunately, it was cold outside so no one would question my long coat. The hostess looked like this was the end of her third shift. I tipped her for taking me to the booth
. S
he looked at the cash and stuffed it in her
syrup stained
apron. Laurna was smiling still. I thought ab
out leaving. “Your eye is black,” s
he commented
,
reaching out like she was going to touch it but not quite connecting
.

     I touched it, which was a mistake. OUCH!!! “Yeah, backs bruised too.”

   
She winced in sympathy.
“Out fi
ghting
the evil dark last night?” S
he poured the coffee
into both of our cups
.

     I nodded and loaded my coffee with sugar.
 

     “So what’d you get?” S
he asked
,
leaning forward to hear the details.

    I shrugged and opened the menu.
I really didn’t want to sit around and discuss the killing I’d done the night
before. I wanted to be able to eat
without the memory of that terrible smell interfering.

      She leaned forward spill
ing blond hair onto the table.
“Come on tell
me,
”
she begged. H
er eyes were sparkling.

     I almost laughed at her. She was so excited. “My face hurts and you’re amused. My day is complete.” The server asked what we wanted to drink. I thought coffee duh, hence the coffee in front of me
,
but I was nice and told her I was good. Laurna asked for more coffee.  We ordered our food and the girl went away. 
She was also to cheerful for words
.
I wondered if the hostess was thinking about killing the waitress just like I was contemplating drowning Laurna in syrup.

     
The morning light shined in through the windows lighting up the entire area we were si
tting in. Al
l that bright shiny sunlight
comfort
ed
me.
“Come on
,
give me a break
, tell me what happened to you.
” 
She
drank her coffee.
Her blond hair floated around her like a halo.
Funny she looked like an angel. I looked like a thug who’d lost a fight.

    
I decided it couldn’t hurt to tell her about it here in the sun. It’s not like anything could get to us in this much sunlight.
“I got in a fist fight with a
Dream-walker
the
n re
membered a sword worked better,
” I told her.
I was trivializing what had happened.
I didn’t want to go into detail. What
could I say he beat me bloody with just two hits and I had a sword? Nah, I’d pass.

     She
scrunched her face up. “What’s a
Dream-walker
?”

   I sighed, “A demon that walks in your nightmares and feeds off your fear. If he does
it
long enough you either die or get stuck in the nightmare. The on
es that die are the lucky ones
can you imagine getting stuck in a nightmare and never waking up? Any way this one was after a little girl. Now he’s dead.” I sipped my coffee.

     Her eyes had widened. “Oh my God that is so cool. You saved that little g
irls life! I am so proud of you,
” she bubbled. Then she stopped abruptly
liked she’d just remembered something
, “
You’re sure their all bad.  I mean there’s no such thing as a good
Dream-walker
or
Vamp
ire or whatever?
”  She bit her bottom lip.

    I shook my head no, “I told you they are demons what can be good about a demon? Think about it
they
feed on fear. How can that be good?  They drink human blood sure
it’s
good for them but not
so hot for us, how is that good,
”
I huffed.
I
didn’t
understand
why I had to
keep explaining this to her
. I was having enough trouble keeping my own mind focused on the evils of
Vamp
ires
because I was having a hard time not thinking sexual thoughts about a certain dark haired bloodsucker myself.

     She sighed,
“I guess you’re right.”  She drank her coffee. Good I was glad she understood.

      We ate, she was quiet which wasn’t much like her but I guessed she was thinking about what I’d said. 
Which was good bu
t I was worried anyway. “Laurna
,
I am, I am being hunted right now.
I’m really worried about what would happen if one of those
demons
gets his hands on you.
I mean, t
his is what I look like
,” I gestured to my messed up face and down my bruised torso
, “
I heal at 10 times the normal human rate,
and I have been train
ed
my whole life to do this.
If they get their hands on you,
” I broke
off;
it was too much to think about.
Laurna all bloody and broken, the
lovely
fire that seemed to fill her up quenched. I never wanted to see that.

       She smiled a sad little smile, “You don’t think one of them would try to manipulate me to get at you, do you?” 
Good she was scared too. That meant she’d be careful.

     I smiled back
a little
brighter.
“You would never fall for that. You’re
smarter than that. Don’t worry,
” The
server brought us the check and Laurna paid.