Shadow Rising (24 page)

It was hard to imagine Roman saying that, but then again,
Nerissa was a counselor. She brought out the confidential side in people.

I nodded. “If I showed the slightest move to being his mistress instead of just his official consort, he’d jump on it.” I stood, wrapping my arms around my shoulders. I really wanted a shower. Glancing at the clock, I saw that it was close to four a.m. We’d have to be leaving soon.

“I know he would, too. I see the way he looks at you. Menolly, honey, he doesn’t want me. This was never about
me
. Which is why I suggested tonight. It’s about what you and I have together, and what he doesn’t have. He needed to see it for himself. To prove to himself that…that what we have is real. That he’ll never come between us. But Roman, thank the gods, is too much of a gentleman to move in and force the issue.”

I nodded. “Yeah, he is. Maybe he still has more feelings—emotion—than I give him credit for. Vampires tend to lose their humanity through the years. Some manage to keep it, but it takes nurturing. Roman’s done very well, but I thought…I didn’t think…he’d ever be interested in that side of life again. Sex is one thing…love, quite another.”

At that moment, the door opened and a maid came in. She curtsied. “Lord Roman offered the use of his bath if you’d like to shower. He’s indisposed, but he bids you take the limousine home, and he also asked me to give you this.” She held out a box wrapped in gold paper, with a large bow. “He said to tell you that it’s fragile, so please, be careful with it.”

I slowly took the box and peeked at the card.

“A wedding gift.” I frowned, tapping the card against the package. “Let’s go home and shower there. The Wayfarer is closed, so we’ll just grab the Jag there and take off.”

Nerissa looked like she wanted to ask something, but I
shook my head. I was getting a seriously weird feeling, and I wanted out of Roman’s place. She gave me a nod and we hurried into our clothes.

The limo driver dropped us off by the Jag and waited for us to get in and make sure everything was in working order, and then he took off back to Roman’s as we pulled out and headed home.

“What was it you wanted to ask?” I glanced at Nerissa as she leaned back against the seat. She was used to clubbing half the night, so I knew she wasn’t too worn out, although she did look tired. But I sensed something was bothering her.

“We haven’t even sent out invitations for our wedding. Roman passed, not even knowing when it would be. Why do you think so?”

That little fact hadn’t escaped my notice, either. “I have no clue, and I’m not sure I want to. But…I’m thinking…I don’t know. No, I don’t even want to speculate. Roman could have a thousand reasons for saying what he did, and I’d rather not assume. It’s dangerous to assume with vampires.”

“Yeah, I suppose. Just…the energy shifted, babe. By the time we left, I was totally creeped out. What happened? And why? And why do I never want to darken the inside of his house again?”

I didn’t answer as she turned her head to gaze out into the darkness. As we sped through the rain and mist rising off the asphalt, with the glittering rain splashing in the headlights, a dozen thoughts raced through my head, none of them pleasant to dwell on.

I went wandering in my dreams again, out on the Dream-Time, cloaked in mist and a burgundy hooded robe. I wasn’t looking for Roman—in fact, I didn’t want to see him at all for a while. Luckily, there were no official events coming up any time in the next few weeks.

As I skirted mist and rock, I tried to figure out why I was here. Sometimes I just dreamed, usually nightmares. And some days I slept in oblivion, blissfully unaware until the sunset called to me.

But when I went wandering out on the Dream-Time, there was usually a reason. I came to a boulder and sat down, waiting for some answer to come to me—a sign, or even just a tap on the shoulder.

The tap on the shoulder shocked the hell out of me, for two reasons. One, I really wasn’t expecting it, and two, it was a
real
tap on the shoulder and Chase was on the other end of the finger.

“Chase!” I jumped up. “What the hell are you doing out here on the Dream-Time?”

He was wearing a pair of dark jeans and a sports jacket, and his hair looked tousled, as if he hadn’t brushed it in a while. “I have no clue. Something must be wrong because I was sitting at my desk a little while ago and now I’m here and I have no memory of going home, or going to bed.”

“Pull up a rock and sit down.” I motioned to the space on the boulder next to me. At least, if I had to be stuck out here, I had company. “Can’t you just wake up or something? I can’t, but…you’re human.”

“Human with not so much elf in him?” He grinned. When I looked confused, he sighed and leaned back on his elbows. “Oh come on, you’ve been over here this long and you haven’t seen Monty Python? The rat skit?”

Again, I shook my head. “TV is Delilah’s department.”

“Never mind; if I have to explain the joke, it’s not funny.” He sighed and then sat upright again. “I feel like I should be remembering something, but it’s not coming to me.”

“I know—only for me, I feel like I should be finding something out, and I have no clue what it is.” I paused, then decided, what the hell, since we were here, we might as well shoot the bull. “How’s Sharah?”

“About the same. Crying a lot. Throwing up a lot. She and Iris are getting together to talk all things baby. Oh, she asked me this morning to pass along the info that Siobhan Morgan has left for the Isle of Man. She and Mitch need to get over there early enough before the baby is due. They left last week.”

I nodded. “I’m not down much with the baby thing, but I’m glad to hear she actually gets to do that. I can’t believe
it’s been this long already since we helped her. That was a rough time…for both her and Mitch.”

Last year, shortly before the fall equinox, we’d helped a friend who had been stalked by an enemy of more than a hundred years. Now she was off to the Isle of Man Selkie Pod to have her baby and to reclaim a royal lineage.

“I hope she comes back. I hope she doesn’t stay there.” I paused, then drew swirls in the mist with my fingers. “So much has changed.”

“You can say that again.” Chase kicked a loose stone on the ground. “For Siobhan. For all of us.”

I wasn’t bored, but I was getting confused. What the hell were we doing out here? Especially Chase, who should be awake, at his desk. I stood up and dusted off the back of my robe. It was also confusing—I didn’t own a burgundy robe and had never even contemplated owning one. I could change my clothes at will out on the Dream-Time, since it was only my dream-self here, but I usually picked something that was more akin to my nature.

I turned back to ask Chase whether Carter had contacted him but stopped cold. Chase was slumped over on the boulder. I raced back to him.

“Chase, Chase!”

His head lolled to the side and I saw claw marks on his neck. Fuck! What the hell had happened?

“Chase, wake up! Can you hear me? Chase!” I shook him, pulling him up to a seated position, but he was out good.

“What the fuck do I do? Is anybody out here? Can anybody hear me?”

I didn’t like calling attention to myself on the Dream-Time, but I couldn’t wake up in order to get help, and it was obvious that Chase was in some sort of a crisis. I thought quickly. Who could hear me out here? And where was
out here
? I had no clue how to contact anybody.

Chase moaned and began to shake. I went down on my knees beside him and tried to take hold of him, to keep him from hitting his head on the ground. Logically, I knew that he wasn’t here in body, but I couldn’t help it—I had to do something. As he thrashed, I wondered what the hell was
going on with him. Was there anybody on the way who might be able to hear me? If he was unconscious, maybe they’d send somebody out to the Dream-Time for him.

And then, I jumped as a crash sounded behind me. I whirled around, still holding Chase in my arms. A creature was aimed right at us. It was nebulous, as translucent as the mist itself, looking very much like a jellyfish. As it neared, I moved to place myself between it and Chase.

The thing paused, then moved to the right, several of its tendrils drifting out toward Chase. I moved with it, interfering with its goal. As one of the tentacles touched me, I felt a little spark but nothing more. Maybe it wasn’t dangerous? Maybe it was just curious?

But then it moved to the left, more aggressively, and I had the gut feeling that if it reached Chase, he’d be in serious trouble. More than he already was. I launched myself and tried to land a strike, but my foot went right through it. I did, however, get a nice tingling shock down my leg. What the hell? It could touch me, but I couldn’t touch it?

“Play fair, bitch!” I was darting now, as its tentacles swept this way and that, attempting to reach beyond me to grab Chase. He lay there, unconscious, paling as the minutes passed. Great, I was playing keep-away with a freaking jellyfish and Chase was the ball.

I was starting to run out of ideas, and the creature was growing more aggressive, when another voice rang out—one I recognized.

“Menolly!” Vanzir raced through the mist, toward me. He looked intact, however—solid in a way neither Chase nor I were. He had leaped onto the Dream-Time in body, not an easy feat. But, for a dream-chaser demon, easy enough, I supposed.

“Vanzir—help me! Chase is in trouble.” I dodged again, trying to cover Chase’s ass, but the jellyfish landed all its tentacles on me and sent me reeling. No more little shocks, but one long, intense racking pain.

As it sailed past me toward Chase, Vanzir launched himself, landing in its path. He held out his hands and tendrils appeared. They were wormlike, neon ribbons that filtered out from his palms, eerie and alive and writhing.

“Your powers—you’ve got your powers back!” I watched, mesmerized as the tendrils sank into the body of the jellyfish and began to feed on its energy. The thing shifted then, no longer a jellyfish but the vague shape of a human, though far more nebulous. No features showed, only gaping sockets where there would be eyes. But it was hungry, and it wanted Chase.

“You betcha, babe. Only I’m in control now—I no longer have the need to feed. But oh, it feels so good.” He closed his eyes, cackling as he siphoned the energy off the creature. It began to shrivel and fade, and then was gone.

Vanzir turned to me. “Surprised to see you out here, babe.”

“How did you know what was happening?”

“We were down at HQ, discussing a few things about last night. I went along to get out of the house, and I also wanted to drop in on Carter. He called for us to come over—he told us about your visit last night.” He eyed me up and down. “Don’t ever think about fucking with him, girl. He could tear you to bits and probably would. It may not show, but he likes it rough.”

“He actually talked to you about that part of our conversation?”

“Demons stick together.”

“Well, trust me, the possibility didn’t cross my mind.” I stared at him. “Get on with it. What’s going on with Chase?”

“Anyway, we got a call from Sharah that something was going on and we headed over there. By the time we got there, Chase was unconscious. We could tell he was being drained. Somehow, he must have thrust his spirit over here to the Dream-Time. He’s getting damned good at that. But I could sense something had latched onto him and was sucking away his energy. So I came over to see if the leech was on this side of the veil. Apparently it wasn’t, but whatever that thing was, it was ready to feed, too.” He paused. “What are you doing here?”

“I don’t know, to be honest. Sometimes I find myself on the Dream-Time when I’m sleeping. I think, maybe, I came here because Chase needed me. Maybe he called me out
here somehow. What the hell was that thing?” I looked at the wispy remains of the jellyfish creature, which was now a mere shadow, floating on the breeze.

“It sure as hell isn’t something you’d find on a
Nova
special, regardless of what it looks like. It must be some sort of spirit.” He paused. “It’s not a Karsetii demon, but there was a similar feel.”

I shook my head. This felt all too familiar. “Hungry ghosts?”

“Maybe…or maybe an offshoot of them. And ten to one, whatever it is, it’s out and about thanks to Gulakah. By the way, I heard about your adventures in spookland last night. Delightful.” He sighed. “Well, I’d better hop off the Dream-Time and see how Chase is doing. By the way, this—my powers returning? Very recent. The Triple Threat had something to do with it, though I’m not sure exactly what. But we’ll talk about that later. Bye, wench. Sleep well.”

Before I could stop him, he plastered a kiss on my nose, then winked and vanished, along with Chase. I stood there, staring at them as they faded, wishing I could wake up, too. As I meandered around the boulders, I wondered—had Chase really managed to call me out? I’d been able to keep that freak show tentacle monster from sucking his life force out until Vanzir had been able to get here.

And if Chase
had
summoned me, what the hell was he evolving into? Even the little bit of elf in him couldn’t account for some of the changes going on. But then again, humans had their own type of magic, and we knew next to nothing about the rest of Chase’s family.

As I stared up into the misty skies of the Dream-Time, I felt myself fading. The next thing I knew, it was sunset, and time to rise. I slipped from beneath my covers and once again, dressed to face the endless night.