The blond’s eyebrows headed for his hairline.“Father?”
“Go.”The old man waited until Jake had retreated with one last long glance at Liv, who stood and trembled, fighting for air.“Erik?”
“Yessir.”The brunet guy didn’t look away.He seemed to be willing her to stay cool, to keep herself together.
Oh, God, I’m trying.Liv’s hands opened and closed, convulsively.There was a little more space since the blond was gone.If the old guy would just back off too, she could probably handle this.
Or at least, handle something.Did this mean all her other dreams were real, or just the gruesome, monster-laced ones?How about the other dreams, seeing a fall of light or a particular view and running across the very same thing a week to a few months later, the déjà vu pouring through her alternately scorching and icy?
How aboutthose, friends and neighbors?
“I will be in the outer room.”The older guy inclined slightly in her direction, a small bow like an uncertain butler.Did priests have butlers?“Be gentle.”
“Of course.”Erik still didn’t look away.“We’ll just hang out for a little bit, take it easy.”
The idea that there was such a thing astaking it easy, when there were tentacled horrors with giant bleeding suckers or strange hulking quadrupeds with hellfire eyes, tentacles, and coats made of shifting glass walking around, walloped her again.Erik took another step forward.
“Shhhh,” he said, in that same strange, gentle murmur.“It’s okay.It’s just you and me, Dreamer.Take your time, all right?You’re safe, you’re not crazy.Okay?I’m gonna be right here with you.”He spread his hands, raising his arms slightly as if talking to a terrorist or robber during a standoff.“Just keep your eyes on me, beautiful.”
“You’re… monster hunters?”she managed, tentatively.Please tell me this makes some kind of sense.“Right?”
“Right.”A slight, approving nod.With only him in the room a lot of the air returned, and the iron band around her ribs eased up.“Good.You’re doing great.”
“There’s not enough air,” she whimpered, hating herself for the stupidity, not to mention weakness.
“The air’s coming back,” he answered promptly, and that made a mad kind of sense.Enough that she whooped in a gigantic breath, and he gave that little nod again, as if she’d accomplished something grand.“See?So yes, monsters are real and we’re monster hunters; that’s a good way to put it.We rely on people like you.Lirai.Dreamers.”
Who’s Larry?Lar-ai?Liv tried to think, got exactly nowhere, fastened on the most bizarrely logical part of the whole deal.“So… I’m a monster hunter too?”Can I put that on a resume?
“Oh, beautiful, you’re so much more.”Erik shook his head slightly, and his faint smile was a co-conspirator’s now, encouraging, almost kind.“You’ve seen all the movies, right?This is the part where you have a little trouble with the idea, and I calm you down, then I ask you to trust me.This is exactly that part, Livvie.”
Oh, God, don’t call me that.The annoyance was a wonderful bracer, like a shot of tequila after a bad breakup.
“I don’t think I want the training montage,” she managed, and was rewarded by the intensifying of that slight smile.He had a face like a sheer cliff, but if you looked closely, there were flickers of expression.
Here she was staring at a guy she didn’t know, who had kidnapped her and saved her from a giant tentacle squidbeast and some kind of supersized alien werewolf.There wasn’t any sort of rulebook or manual for this.She couldn’t even find a legal definition, despite all the reams of court documents she’d read, depositions she’d proofed, or official letters she’d written.
“I don’t think I would either.”Strangely, Erik sounded like he’d actually considered the notion and made a serious decision.“Now, the best thing for you would be something to eat, and something warm to drink.Just to let your body know the sabertooth tiger’s gone now, you see?Right now you’re still in fight-or-flight.”
“Are there?”Her throat was a sandpaper wasteland, butfight-or-flightmade sense.She couldn’t do either at the moment, so she was vapor-locking, like Mika when faced with the prospect of snakes.“Sabertooth tigers, I mean?”
“Haven’t seen one yet.”But, his tone said,I don’t rule it out.
Oddly enough, his simple matter-of-factness helped.The room opened up further, her lungs filled once more, and Liv was suddenly aware she was sweating, every muscle either trembling or gone numb.She wanted to sit down very, very badly, but not on the bed.
Not where those socks were.
“All right.”All intransigence drained away, and she took a step forward.Another, and reached out blindly.
Erik’s hands clasped hers.His grasp was solid, warm, and undeniably human.
Liv let out a dry, barking sob, caught her breath, and stared at his almost-expressionless face.He waited, holding her hands in his hard, warm palms like it was no big deal.The touch steadied her, and she wanted to get away from the bed and the goddamn socks.
“Can we go in the other room?”she whispered.A scream boiled in her throat; she denied it.
“One step at a time.”He even backed up with eerie grace, meeting her gaze the entire way.
Behaving Admirably
