Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Eight hours later…
Evie squinted to see into the hazy dark around her to make out where she stood.
It was an upper floor stone landing in a huge, archaic stone church.
However, she wasn’t “standing” on solid ground.
She hovered in her dream walking in ghost-like form.
When sleeping, she walked into someone else’s life in real time, usually it was the same someone who she couldn’t clearly see.
Now that she’d met the mage in the club, she knew she had always visited his life.
Roman and Ky fought downstairs in the main room.
It looked like they were facing off with some type of demon.
Why the evils they fought frequented Christian domains baffled her, but it seemed they were always battling something in a place sacred to humans.
If she wasn’t careful, her sons would detect her. She wasn’t here to spy on them, though.
When she’d gone to sleep, she told herself to find the mage from yesterday. Why was he in the same place as Roman and Ky? Was he here to hurt them? She had picked up no malice from him toward them last night.
“Why are you here?” the mage asked behind her.
She whirled. “Why are you here?”
“I’m protecting your stubborn kids,” he whispered. “Get out of here.”
Something far more threatening than whatever Ky and Roman trifled with downstairs loomed up here. Something sinister that wasn’t the mage. She should warn them.
“Hello, Dom,” murmured a deep female voice, followed by eerie laughter.
A tall female with flowy black hair, dressed in jeans and a green knit shirt, stalked close.
The clothes seemed an odd choice. As if she’d torn them off a preppy clothes rack in a tourist shop.
“You can’t keep my demons off those lycans and fight me.
You’re going to have to choose whether you value yourself more than those lycans. ”
Dom. His name was Dom.
Dom protected Ky and Roman from this creature?
An inky coldness seeped into Evie as the evil she-creature moved closer. “What does she want?”
“My soul. Me.” Dom’s thought came to her in his low, raspy voice. It surprised her she could hear him in her head. “She hit me with some sort of paralysis potion.”
Long fingernails turned to talons that wrapped Dom’s throat and held him steady. “I can’t wait to taste your soul. The older ones are more delicious.” Her mouth closed in on his, as if she were intent on sucking his soul out of his mouth.
“No!” Evie decked the demon in the throat. The knee-jerk response to protect Dom startled her almost as much as it did him and the demon. I need a shotgun.
Her powerful hit threw the she-demon to her butt. It sat up, shocked and confused. “What else did you bring with you, Dom?”
“Leave,” Dom thought to her.
“Did you bring a shotgun?”
He glanced to the floor. The gun. Perfect.
Picking up items in this dream state had always been hard. Yet, she’d made contact with the demon. She could do this. The demon was closing in. Her ghost-like hands passed through the gun once…twice…
Got it.
Her shot managed to peg the demon mid-chest. This wasn’t the kind of ammunition she used. It wasn’t filled with the perfect anti-demon potion she’d been concocting for many years. Still, a solid head shot should eliminate it for now.
“Where’s the lycan who likes to explode demon brains?” Dom asked.
“I’m a phantom.” She tried to chamber the next round, but the level of strength required to do it in this state was so much greater than she expected.
“Not an excuse.” She heard his voice in her head. “You practiced this. Chamber it.”
She chambered.
The demon lumbered toward them.
“You have time,” Dom said in her mind. “Aim. Then fire.”
Deep breath.
Boom. Demon brain bits exploded all over the balustrade.
Yes!
A familiar presence cozied up next to her. “Why are you here?” she whispered to Lyra. Her daughter had inherited the ability to dream walk. “Go home.”
Of course, the curious child didn’t leave. She removed something from Dom’s pocket. The object was small, but very bright. Dom covered his eyes. Guess his paralysis was wearing off.
It was so bright it hurt Evie’s eyes. Squinting let her make out a smooth stone.
Lyra clapped her hand around it. In an explosion of light and energy, it blasted apart. Shards of stone spewed everywhere.
The blast discharged energy through her, severing the connection.