Dreaming of Darkness

Chapter One

Traum

“Look at you, wallowing there, begging for my cock. Why do you think you deserve that? Hmm?”

Swinging a leg over the end of the bed she’d pulled into the dream, I climbed up, straddling the woman’s legs. They moved there, restless under her ornate floral coverlet. Unable to feel me, but her eyes, she saw everything. “I don’t think you deserve that, not yet.”

Deep in her dream, the human woman under me quivered, her hands and knees shifting as my words penetrated the thin veil between dream and reality. Sighing loudly, I crawled closer, watching as her eyes moved rapidly over my form.

Early in my life, I might’ve taken the time to ask her what she saw when she looked at me. But now, I don't care. I knew only that she saw whatever male that she was subconsciously begging for. I was merely the warm body, the voice that filled that role, thanks to the magic that throbbed in my veins turning me temporarily into the man of her dreams.

Literally.

I didn’t matter to her. Not really. My appearance was whatever my magic understood to make her most desperate. To drive her ever higher. To make my reward ever sweeter.

In the same way she didn’t matter to me. Her looks, her voice, even her tacky furnishings mattered little in the long run. Just her pleasure, the sweetness of her orgasm, the one that I would chase with my voice and words as I guided her higher and higher. Until there was nothing holding her back from the sharp edge of desire and pure unfiltered pleasure.

Then I would feed her.

My mouth watered around my fangs, the thought of all that pleasure flickering through me, around me, Hades below, made me hungry.

A rumbling growl fell from my chest, and while I saw the woman’s eyes slip open in surprise, she remained fully entranced in her dream with me. The dream magic already had a hold of her, but then, that’s what happens when an incubus finds you in your sleep.

She shifted again, bringing my attention back to her. It had only taken me a moment to locate that thought in her dreams, that desperate edge of what she was craving. She’d been an easy one to isolate. What the humans called kinks or preferences, I merely called outlines. Most humans were uncomplicated, seeking out a mystical partner who demanded their pleasure be priority while others were darker, stranger, more unexpected. If I accepted them, I would step into that role with vigor.

After all it was instinct to provide pleasure. Every incubus and succubus were born with that natural drive. But I knew it, felt it in my blood, that I was better than the others. More capable of pulling the pleasure from the living world to feed the Underworld. And I took that role, very, very seriously.

I leaned over, channeling the want and need that she was leaking everywhere back into her. “Tell me then, tell me why you deserve this cock?”

The woman squirmed, in her dreams she was tangling her hands in my arms, her nails biting in my flesh as she worked herself against me. A smile curled my mouth, and I hummed at her.

“Tell me, tell me why I should give you what you want so badly?”

Her throat worked. If she were mine, I would want to taste her there. To lick up the throbbing veins there, where she would shake beneath me. Her lips parted as my thoughts fed her growing need. “I’ll be good to you.”

I clucked my tongue at her, feeling the surge of power in our connection. This one liked my words. It was going to be too easy. “You’ll take my cock, then?”

She’s nodding against her pale pillowcase, her head jerking up and down. Hips rising and falling and still, I denied her. The longer I held out, the longer I waited to trigger the sweetness of oblivion the better it would be for me. The more power that I’d have when she did come.

I drew in the scent of the aroused woman, tasting the power that would be mine in mere moments. “I can see it in your eyes, smell it on your sweet cunt. Oh, you want it so badly. And you know what, I think you’re ready to earn this.”

My magic came rising to the surface, skimming over her sleeping form as my breath came short in my lungs. This was my favorite part.

The control.

The release.

Each moment of pleasure.

All mine.

“If you think you can’t take me, use your words. How do you want me? Do you want it hard and fast? Or do you want to drag this out so both of us are begging, screaming and pleading for the other to give in first?”

She moaned loudly and I laughed, the sound a dark rasp.

“I think they are equally enjoyable; you know. Both will get us exactly where we need to be. But what I really want to know is what this dripping cunt needs.”

I breathed her The push and pull of the power between us.

Living and demon.

Giver and taker.

This is who I was.

“I need it, I-I think-I think I need it fast.”

I hummed, feeling more of the sexual tension between us feed my power.

“Such a brave girl telling me what you need,”

I crooned at her, letting her release bubble up between us. “And do you know what brave girls get?”

She’s begging now, this nameless woman in the dark. Begging for me to end it. Power throbbed into my veins, my cock like iron in my trousers. Her arousal was a tangible element, dangling in the dream between us.

“Do you?”

My voice a whisper.

“Do we get to come?”

I mentally stroked the power between us, soaking it in as this session drew to a close. My power, a dark shadow streaming from my fingers crawled over her, dancing across her flesh, eagerly absorbing every last bit of pleasure. She groaned, hips writhing on the sheets. “Yes, yes you do. Now, come for me; show me just how badly you want it.”

With a single twitch of my power, she’s coming. “Oh god, oh god it’s so good. Please, yes more.”

Smirking, I let my shadows dance a little longer as a reward for using her voice so well.

When she starts to settle again, her fists uncurling in the sheets, I call my shadows back. Freeing her from the dream state we were in. Her eyes were wild for a moment, but then a soft smile curled her mouth.

I wonder if she will remember this when she awakens. Or if she would remember me. And then quickly realize I’m outstaying my welcome. The edges of the dream have gone fuzzy, the darkness pushing me out.

It’s time to go home. My shadows curl with me, climbing and winding around my bare arms until they become part of my skin once again. The power that they’ve pulled, it makes me gasp, the delicious pressure building underneath my chest and eyes until I can practically feel the pleasure that she brought as well.

It is close as I’m going to get to feeling that kind of pleasure on my own. So, I will take it, every single last bit.

It’s time for me to go home, they’ll be waiting for me.

All it took was a simple thought to fall back into the Underworld. Long ago, when the incubus and succubus tribes were first offered solstice here in the Underworld, the dream kingbuilt pathways for us to come and go through dreams with ease. Always able to return to our new home in the Underworld. Where we would be safe.

Sitting up in my bed, I ran a hand through my hair, trying to fix it as I sort out what exactly my last night’s tally should be. Some nights I only serve one human, maybe two. Last night was wild. I ended up spending the entire night jumping from dream to dream.

And while it was extremely gratifying to pull all that power, it also means that I was still tired. While I’m in their dreams, my body was not really at rest, it’s sort of a holding space, an in between where Others like me can exist while our powers wait to do their work within the human’s dreams.

Through the cabin walls, I could hear my sister moving about and a deep rumble that was probably one of my brothers. Sighing I tried to isolate which brother was speaking.

If it was Zaldi, then it was safe to come out.

But if it was Albtraum, my twin and the eldest sibling by mere moments, then it might be better off hiding in here for a bit longer. Not that I don’t love all my siblings equally, but Albtraum has a distinctive interest in trying to parent me since our mother and father opted for The Great Sleep.

Most accurately, he wants me to help him train the others in the tribe. To improve our techniques, he claimed. But I’m no teacher. Not like my parents were. I was a dreamwalker, an incubus—a sex demon and very good at what I do. I liked what I did.

He needs to accept that. You’d think with his new mate and a youngling on the way he’d be less interested in me. But I was wrong.

Groaning, I stretched, staring around small room that I’ve slept in since I was a child. I find clothes and quickly take care of my teeth and other bodily needs before making my way out to the living space of our house.

I don’t get far before I find my siblings gathered together. All four of them. To my surprise, my grandmother was there, sitting serenely as ever, her rose-hued skin paler than the rest of us, at the center of the room. My siblings are arranged around her, like rays of the sun from the living world. Each of them turned to look at me very slowly, their faces all wearing matching expressions of shock.

Anxiety bloomed deep in my belly, and I immediately snarl at them, my magic jumping to my aid. We do not gather like this. And we are never silent. Something had to have happened. Perhaps the wards around the Underworld have fallen. I could only picture chaos and bloodshed would inspire such a reaction.

“What’s this? What’s going on?”

Albtraum and grandmother share an annoyingly long look before she finally nodded at the male, she’d chosen to take over the tribe in her wake.

“I’ve just come from Castel Fel,”

he began, “I met with the Others on the council there. And they opted to allow-.”

My youngest, sister, Antheia, her delicate horns curling at her temples like my own, jumped in, cutting Albtraum off, “They are undoing the laws, Traum. Isn’t that exciting?”

I stared at them dumbly, still not understanding, “The laws for what?”

Albtraum held up a hand to stop the words that were practically flowing from Antheia’s mouth. “The laws preventing human, demon relationships.”

Something yanked, deep in my chest and I curled my fists to keep from pressing at the pressure there.

“We can have human mates again; the Fates and Lords agree.” Oh.

Fuck.

*** Bailey

It was 4:56 in the afternoon. Or would that be evening? God, I never knew where the line was on those. Either way, I’ve been staring at the same email on my inbox for at least thirty minutes, and I was ready to go home. Immediately.

Or rather, in four minutes. Because that’s the thing with first weeks at work. Everyone’s eyes were on me, trying to decide what kind of worker the new girl was. And while I wasn’t exactly killing it on the efficiency side of things, I wasn’t about to be called out for leaving early. Even four minutes.

Sitting here in my little gray cubicle with its fuzzy walls and its company issued branded posters, I would wait.

I had come here for a new job, a new start, a new life.

I was already in love already with the Midwestern fall weather, but I wasn’t sure about any of the rest.

For the most part, everyone had been extremely kind, sure, but I was still very, very alone.

Not that that was any different from the previous chapter of my life, but something about moving here from Seattle meant that everything felt new.

The loneliness felt new again, fresher and harsher in the cool sunshine of the Sunflower state.

And honestly, all I really wanted to do was to make it to 5:00 PM tonight so that I could go home and finish unboxing the last of my stuff.

That would mean at least I could look around my house and be at peace with what I had done.

Packing up my entire life on a whim and moving halfway across the country, may not have been the best idea but I couldn’t change it now.

I was here, the lease on my own little house was signed, and I had a fresh new Bailey Emerson plaque on my desk, courtesy of Woodson and Company’s human resources department.

It was time to buckle down and get comfortable.

I looked at the clock again at 4:58 PM. I was so close.

“So, how was your first day?”

I jerked looking up into the eyes of my cube neighbor Elena, who was fixing me with her

bright blue eyes as she leaned eagerly against our shared wall. I smiled, she was making a big effort, so I should too. It would be nice to have friends here.

“Well, I didn’t break anything,”

I ticked off on my fingers as I spoke, “I was able to find my way in and out of all of the files I needed. And so far, I haven’t gotten any fires started in the break room. So, I’ll consider that a win.”

Elena laughed loudly, surprising me. I wasn’t really that funny usually but grinned back at her. She had been overly kind to me this week, telling me all the best places to get food, even where to get my groceries and all of my little extras from my new house. And again, I really wanted to make new friends. Friends meant roots. A place that felt like home. I really wanted this place to work out. As her chuckles faded, I swiveled my chair towards her.

“How was your week? Anything exciting going on this weekend?”

Elena flushed a little and looked down. “I have a date tomorrow; I’m really looking forward to it to be honest.”

I clucked my tongue leaning in to hear more. “Is this a first date?”

“No, it’s actually our fourth,”

Elena looked back up, her eyes suddenly wide. “Wait! Oh my God, I have a great idea, Bailey. You should come with me. With us.”

I laughed out loud at that, “Why would I come on your date?”

“Because”

Elena drug the word out, her hands fluttering in the air between us, “He has a younger brother. Tall, blonde, blue-eyed and absolutely hilarious. I bet you two would get along so well.”

“Oh,”

I flushed. “I-uh-I don’t really date very much.”

Or ever, I said to myself.

Elena’s eye quickly swept over me taking in the gray pencil skirt and the new white blouse I had tucked into it to comply with our company dress policy. My simple black heels were tall, just like I was, my shoulder length blonde hair pulled from my face, and I knew I had done a pretty good job on my make up this morning. All in all, I was put together, well-dressed and I mean, I could hold a decent conversation. Her lips pursed as she kept looking, obviously trying to suss out what might be preventing me from the pursuit of a partner.

“Why, I mean–”

My cheeks felt red hot as I fiddled with my fingers on my lap. “I appreciate it, really Elena, but I am actually just getting out of a long-term relationship, and I’m just not really ready for that.”

Elena immediately fluttered a hand in my direction, “Oh, I totally understand that Bailey, I don’t blame you at all. If you ever change your mind, the offer will be there because I think this guy, my guy, his name is Alec, I think he’s going to stick around. You just say when and I would love to set it up.”

Elena sighed, sagging into the cube wall. “I love love, what can I say?”

“I know, of course,”

smiling widely as she wished me a happy Friday and slipped back to her side of the wall. Then, my face relaxed, heart thudding as I looked at the clock with near desperate urgency now.

5:02. Thank the lord. It was time to go home.

My car was still covered with highway dust from my trip in from Seattle, but I made extra sure not to bump my nice white shirt into the sides of it as I climbed in. Pressing the ignition, I let the radio fill the silence around me as I leaned forward, letting my forehead bump against the steering wheel.

I had lied to Elena. I guess I was lying to everybody, including myself. I had been in a bad relationship, and yes, that’s part of the reason I was here. But it wasn’t the entire reason.

It was just easier to explain it away as a broken heart, rather than go into the fact that I had spent my life searching for something. All the places I’d tried out. The places I’d been before here. I was always looking for something to fill this void inside of me. Like I had never had a whole heart to begin with. Time after time I had felt drawn here, this strange faraway place on the outskirts of Kansas City. So, after years of misplaced affections and dead-end jobs, I found myself taking the leap once again.

Leaning back in my seat, I buckled my seatbelt. No sense in staying here in this dingy old parking garage, it was time to go home.

Once home, I ditched my bra, skirt and heels in my mostly unpacked room before going looking for a glass of wine and a reality TV show to melt my brain away. This was my kind of night, I thought I curled up into a ball on one side of my sofa, doom scrolling as I half-watched the TV show in front of me.

My eyes were heavy, and I found my head lolling against the edge of the gray sofa, my chin even falling to my chest until I woke up with a start. I had the strangest, fuzzy pull in the back of my mind as I struggled to stay awake. It felt as if the dream kept pulling at me, asking me to come back.

I didn’t want to go to bed yet because I still needed to get to those boxes tonight, so instead I set an alarm on my phone for 30 minutes. Grabbing the throw blanket, I curl up with a sigh.

“I’ll just do a super quick nap. Then I’ll show those boxes who is boss.”

Immediately warm and comfortable, I began to drift off. A spicy warm scent invaded my nose as I dozed, and I swear, I felt the pull just below my heart before I fell straight into my dreams.

My eyes opened with a jerk. I was still in my new house, but I knew that it wasn’t real. It didn’t feel quite right. I knew I was dreaming, and I almost laughed to myself that at this point, I was still dreaming about packing boxes. But there was something different, the house was warmer. The lights were lower. The TV noise was a mumble in the back of my mind as I looked around.

I threw the blanket off my legs and stood; the dream version of me suddenly convinced, that I needed to walk to the kitchen to find something. I didn’t get very far at all before I stumbled over the edge of my coffee table. I leaped around, my foot held high, cringing at the pain that was still shooting up my leg, the feeling remarkably real.

When I finally was able to put my foot down without cringing, I heard the lowest, softest rumble of noise. Wasn’t quite a purr. It was deeper than that, darker too, and it stole its way up my spine making goosebumps break out all over my body. Slowly I turned to the door jamb between my living room, and the stairs to my bedroom, finding a backlit figure leaning there. He was tall, broad, and unless I was mistaken, rocking a long-pointed tip tail that swished backand-forth in the air behind him as he watched me.

“Are you okay, love?”

His voice sent shivers down my spine.

Staring at him, I could only nod. There was something off about the shape of him, the shadow of his head, different. And when he turned his face, obviously waiting for my answer, I saw why. There was smooth, curving horns, blooming from the edges of his hairline, curling backwards over thick, dark hair. And unless I was wrong, his skin tone was deep, ruby-colored with chin and cheekbones that were sharp slashes of structure across a face that was far too pretty to be human.

“Who are you?”

I asked, “Why are you in my house?”

“I’m just a dream,”

he said quietly, his expression hidden in shadow.

My heart thudded in my chest, my mind fuzzy as I stared at him, the soft scent of him, something smoky and warm filling my senses until I could think of nothing else.

“Are you sure?”

He humped, and with that he stepped forward into my living room, moving all the way across it until he was close enough that I could see that his eyes were glowing a soft red. He was several inches taller than me, and now he gazed down at me with more than little curiosity.

Slowly, one long black tipped finger rose. The edges of those nails, sharp as a blade, traced the air between us. With a soft grunt, his hand curled into a fist, only the back of his index finger extended as his knuckle slowly grazed the side of my cheek all the way from my cheekbone to my bottom lip.

Heat burned everywhere he touched. And his face, that beautiful face–it looked tortured.

Ignoring my instincts, I stepped backwards out of his hands.”

What?”

I asked him, “What’s wrong?”

I could see him swallow from, hear the soft noise in his chest get louder and louder as he ducked his chin, closing over those magical looking eyes as he breathed me in. Finally, after what seemed like an hour he spoke again.

“It can’t be.”