Only in Her Dreams (24 page)

“I see you indeed have doubts, my dear.” He leaned closer. His stale breathe surrounded her like a damp, woolen coat.

“I don’t know what to believe.” She’d been so sure of Maxim’s character and his explanations of who he was and what he was doing in her life. There were so many more questions she hadn’t known to ask. Now, she wasn’t sure who to believe. Maybe she had it all wrong. Something inside Lucessa told her Maxim may not have told her the whole truth, but the man sitting across from her was
not
the good guy. “I have a few questions.” She didn’t know if it was worth asking. He’d probably lie, but he was her best option. Even half-truths were better than ignorance.

“I’m not usually the one answering the questions, but I’ll try to be accommodating.” He replied.

“Well...” his foul breath gone, she collected her thoughts and started over. “You said Maxim and my father are responsible for my mother’s sickness. How?”

“They wiped her mind, and in doing so, fried her brain. Very unsafe procedure for someone so attached to an Oneiroi,” he said casually.

It was hard to take in.
Mind wipe? Procedure?
Lucessa sat in silence, not sure she wanted to hear more.
Betrayal.
That’s the only way to explain her feelings, at the moment. She’s been betrayed by the three men she cared for. First her father, then Greg, and now Maxim. Her head sunk into her hands.

I refuse to cry! I will not break down.

Chapter 32

“Get up, we’ve leaving.” Darius moved around the room collecting various items. He pushed them into a blue and green checkered duffle bag on the bed.

Gun!
What does he need a gun for?

Lucessa rubbed at her red swollen eyes. Next to the bag sat the woman in red. Only now, she wore a long sleeve velour jumpsuit, although still in hooker red.

“Where’re we going?” Lucessa asked.

“Somewhere they won’t find us.” Darius slung the large bag over his shoulder and moved toward the door. “Until I work out a negotiation for your return.”

“My return? I’m not free to leave?”
It was worth a try, right?

“You’ll stay with me, until you’re no longer useful. But, if I’ve played my cards right, you’re just the bargaining chip I need to attain what I want. Now let’s go. I have an extra jacket for you on the bed.” He opened the bedroom door. The room flooded with the sounds and odors from beyond; bodies moving, heavy breathing, ripping fabric, and the distinct smell of drugs.

Who lives this way?
Her stomach lurched again at the smell. She rushed into the open door next to the bed. Her earlier suspicions were correct, it held a bathroom. She leaned over the toilet bowl, clasping the cracked seat with both hands as heaves racked her body, over and over. Acid continued to surge up her throat, into her mouth and nasal passages, burning.

As the sting receded, she looked up. Sandy leaned on the door frame, offering a dirty rag.

“Thank you.” Lucessa stumbled to her feet and accepted the towel. Sandy turned, without a word, and moved to Darius’s side.

“For fuck sakes! Grab your jacket and let’s go,” Darius yelled from the other room.

Lucessa did as Darius instructed and followed him into the hallway, where Alexander waited.

“Alexander, show these two lovely ladies to the car.”

“Yes, Master.”

Great, another car ride.

# # #

Lucessa sat in the backseat of the Oldsmobile between Alexander and Greg. With the windows open to the frigid air, the car sped through the night, destination unknown. Conversation was impossible with the wind so Lucessa had plenty of time to think. About her past, and her future.

Is my past all a lie?
Her father wasn’t her father. He wasn’t killed in a car accident but chose to leave her and her mother. To top it off, the man from her dreams was a lying bastard.
Is bastard the right term? I bet he knows who his
real
father is.
Everything in her life was a sham.

Now she sat in the back of a pile of rust on her way to God knows where. And no one knew, except perhaps her lying, cheating husband.

Maybe she was the crazy one, and she imagined everything that was happening. No one would believe she’s the adopted daughter of an Oneiroi, and not just any Oneiroi but the head Oneiroi.
I’m still getting use to their existence.
She didn’t even believe it herself.
How can I expect others to believe me?

With the way things were going she wouldn’t have to worry about that. It was unlikely she’d make it back alive.

Sandy also puzzled her. She seemed to have a connection with Greg, but a stronger link with Darius. She’d hardly said a word to anyone. Greg sat next to Lucessa, his eyes boring into the back of Sandy’s head. Sandy watched Darius who sat beside her. So much had changed in the last few days.
What I wouldn’t give to go back to the normalcy of working two jobs.

She glanced back at Sandy, sitting confidently in the front seat. “Who is she?” she asked Greg, leaning close to be heard over the wind.

Greg shifted uncomfortably next to her.

“Come on, Greg. You owe me that much.”
You owe me a lot more.

“My girlfriend.” The wind blowing through the car carried Greg’s voice with it. Lucessa turned fully toward him, to make sure she’d heard right. Greg stared back, his eyes narrowed and his brow scrunched.

“You’re joking, right?”
He’s back, betrayed you, and brought his girlfriend, great!

“No.”

“What’s up with your
girlfriend
and Darius? They seem close.” The remark was meant to hurt him and from the way his shoulders slumped down the seat, it’d worked.
Classic Greg style.

On the other side of Lucessa, Alexander seemed interested in their conversation.

“Do you know where we’re going?”

“Not a clue.”

Well, isn’t he just a fountain of information.

“How’d you meet her, Greg?” She feared their relationship had started long ago, maybe even before she and Greg were married. Her mind spun trying to nail down a time when things had changed. Before med school? Before the wedding? Before Uganda? She didn’t know.

“We’ve lived together for the last year.”

Lucessa froze in her seat, her head whipped to look straight out the front window.
I should be shocked.
She was more then taken aback by Greg’s confession. She was dumbfounded. Of all the places Greg could’ve been and who he could’ve been with, she hadn’t expected he’d been with another woman. A part of her waited for him to tell her it was all a joke, that he didn’t know the woman sitting in the front seat.

“Really?” Lucessa could hardly breathe.
That’s the best I can come up with?
Greg had chosen to disappear from her life and leave her with all the burdens…to be with another woman?

“Is it hard to believe I’d want her over you? Don’t be delusional, blondes are always better,” he said with a small laugh.

“No, I find it hard to believe you’d stay in Uganda...for anyone. But it does figure you’d find someone else to be your mother.”
Now who’s smiling?

“Shut the fuck up or you’ll be riding in the trunk.” Darius threatened from the front seat.

Modesto receded as they drove south on the 99 freeway, towards Los Angeles. She hoped that wasn’t his destination, because it’d be a long drive. Dark country passed the open windows, the cold wind whipped her hair across her face. Her nose and ears were numbed by the cold. The men said nothing.

As the car passed signs for Turlock, a small country town, they pulled off the freeway and headed west into the countryside. Lucessa’s mother grew up in Patterson, an even smaller town close by, and she knew there wasn’t much out here but livestock.

Looking out the window, she recognized Fulkerth Road and the car continued to speed on. They eventually slowed and turned onto Vivian Road. Their journey had them backtracking toward Modesto. She didn’t ask why. She didn’t relish angering Darius further. It was way too cold to finish the drive in the trunk.

The car started to slow again and turned down a dirt easement between two cattle ranches. The car hopped and dipped over every pothole. Stopping, they sat in complete darkness. No light broke through the vast space outside.

“Where are we?” Greg leaned toward the front seat. “I thought you said you’d let me go. I’ve done what you asked.”

God, what a whine bag!
The pleading in his voice made her sick. Again, thinking only about himself. Sandy let out a huff.
Looks like we’re in agreement on Greg.

“Everyone out. We walk from here.”

“Wait. I asked you a question,” Greg continued. He reached into the front seat and put his hand on the Darius’s arm to halt him. “We had a deal.”

Alexander had walked around the car and opened the passenger door while Greg protested. Giving up, he exited the car and moved to the front. Lucessa followed suit. They stood closely as Darius and Alexander retrieved the large bags from the trunk. One was the blue and green duffle Darius had packed. She hoped the second contained flashlights, food, and toilet paper.

Greg watched Sandy act as a fly on shit, never leaving Darius’s side.
How did she go from hostage to accomplice?

They walked further down the dirt road. Lucessa pulled her jacket closer around herself. A uniquely feminine smell emanated from the material. She pulled the collar to her nose and inhaled. The jacket didn’t smell dirty, like the rest of the place. It smelled freshly washed, lavender if she wasn’t mistaken.
He went through the trouble of getting me a clean jacket. Interesting.

The outline of a small shack came into view. There were no lights, no electrical wires running to the house, and the windows were boarded over. Tall weeds grew around the structure and through the open doorway.
Not much different from the place we just left.
“Where are we?”

“A little place I ran across years ago. It was in better shape back then, but it suits my purpose just fine,” Darius answered. “Alexander, please light the lamps inside.”

Darius ushered them through the open doorway. The room filled with a dim light from the lamps. Darius held a gun pushed into Greg’s back.
Does he honestly think Greg is a threat?
He’s wrong. Greg wouldn’t stand up for himself.

But she knew someone who would stand up for himself.
Maxim.

The inside of the shack was in better condition. Old furniture cluttered the one room, with a small kitchen in the back. A large fireplace took up space on one wall, half burned pieces of timber were stacked inside. A multicolored rug covered most of the wooden floor. To Lucessa’s disappointment, there was no bathroom in sight.

And everything was covered in a thick layer of dust.

“Sit,” Darius commanded. He dropped his bag on the floor, and waved the gun at a couch that sat in front of the fireplace. “Don’t go anywhere. Greg and I are going to collect firewood.” His eyes traveled to Lucessa. Anxiety prickled her spine.

With that, the pair moved out the door.

“Where’s Alexander?” Lucessa asked Sandy.

“Probably outside, ready to kill you if you run.”

That’s comforting.
She chose a large armchair, as opposed to sitting beside Sandy on the only couch in the room.

Alexander entered, carrying a lantern and the other duffle bag from the trunk. He ignored both women, whose eyes followed his progress around the room. He stepped into the small kitchen area and lit two candles from his lantern. They illuminated a crude wooden countertop and makeshift sink with no faucet. This was going to be a rough night.

She hoped Darius and her father could sort out their issues. She wanted to return home...soon.

# # #

Greg followed the beam of light in front of him. His feet moved through the dust. Sweat drenched his shirt, despite the cool night air.
The gun in my back isn’t helping.

“Let’s move, just a few more pieces and that should be enough for the night.” Darius pushed the gun into Greg’s left shoulder blade, sending paining shooting down his arm.

I’m obviously not seeing freedom any time soon.
He needed to play along and live through this. He’d lived in Uganda for a year under desolate circumstances--he could handle a day or two without electricity or running water.

“Back to the cabin.” Darius pointed the flashlight back to the shack.

Greg dragged his feet, in no hurry to get back to the awkward situation brewing between Lucessa and Sandy.

The shack came into view through the brush. Figures moved around inside. His arms lugged the fallen timber and dry bushes he’d collected, the burn in his forearms reminded him of the soft life he’d lived thus far. He planned to change that.
If I live through this, that is.

Lucessa and Sandy stood in front of the fireplace while Alexander arranged the half-burned pieces of timber in an attempt to bring some warmth to the room. At the sound of Greg’s feet scraping against the scarred wooden floor, both women and Alexander looked in his direction. Their eyes bore into him. If looks could kill, he’d have kneeled over, taking Darius with him.

“On the couch, Flynn,” Darius said, prodding Greg again in the back.

Helplessly, he walked the short distance to the couch and sat, wood and all.

“What the fuck, you idiot?”

“Just doing what you said, boss,” Greg replied. If he was trying to fly under the radar and survive, he was taking the wrong path. All the same, he stood and carried the wood to the box next to the fireplace. There was no reason to push his luck any further.

Greg returned to the couch and watched as Alexander struggled to start the fire. Eventually, both women gave up on watching him and sat as well. Sandy sat next to him on the couch and Lucessa in the armchair, curling her legs underneath her. Her looks hadn’t changed much in the year he’d been gone. Her hair was a little longer and her eyes looked tired. She was a pretty girl but average, in his opinion, her body was curvy with smaller breasts and a bigger ass. As a man of the world, he now knew what he wanted in a woman and Lucessa was not it.