Darkness.Agony down her arms. Something thick, viscous, and foul clogged her mouth as she choked on a scream.
Kay dragged herself awake, gasping short, frantic breaths against the hideous terror-inducing suffocation and the burn down her arms. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she gagged on bile.
She heaved herself out the bed—still in that vague amorphous limbo between asleep and awake, convinced that the dark swirling shapes around her were real—and pulled the dim shadows in the room into a pair of Shadow daggers, one clenched reassuringly in each fist. They were her weapons, their blades gleaming like obsidian marbled with midnight blue as she crouched in the middle of her room, ready to fight.
Nothing moved.
Kay balanced on the balls of her feet, blinking against the heavy darkness as she threw her awareness through the room, looking for the danger that was still lurking in her mind. But she was alone.
Tangled blankets, a messy desk, and clothes left strewn over a chair were all only just visible in the low light of her bedside clock, and the room was completely quiet except for its gentle ticking.
She allowed her Shadow blades to dissolve and float away into the darkness as she clicked on her lamp and cast the room into soft yellow warmth.
Her leather jacket was hanging over a chair next to her helmet. Her small suitcase was still open on the floor beside her laptop bag. There was a glass of water on her bedside table. It was the most domestic scene in the world.
Bloody nightmare. This trip to Wales was meant to be a break from weeks of intense work. A chance to spend some time with her gran and get some sleep. She’d arrived too late to see Elizabeth, and sleep, well…. Kay eyed the bed for a few moments. That wasn’t going to happen.
She padded silently down the stairs and then paused briefly at the light spilling out from under the kitchen door. Her gran had been in bed when she arrived, and yet now she also seemed to be wandering around the big old house in the middle of the night.
Kay pushed her way into the farmhouse kitchen and raised one eyebrow at the bottle of twenty-five-year-old single malt sitting on the big, scuffed kitchen table—Elizabeth only ever drank Scotch whisky, her late husband’s favorite, but not usually after midnight.
Elizabeth was doing a crossword while soft jazz played on the radio, her silver hair pulled back in a long plait that trailed down the back of her burgundy silk dressing gown. Still as elegant and beautiful as she’d been when she stormed into Kay’s life thirteen years before.
“Hey, Gran.”
Elizabeth looked up, meeting Kay’s eyes over the top of her glasses and smiled warmly. “Cariad. I’m so glad you’re here.”
Kay leaned over to give Elizabeth a tight hug, letting herself breathe in her gran’s warm presence. She was glad too.
Elizabeth slipped her glasses off and rubbed the top of her nose. “You should be asleep, of course. But since you’re up, help yourself to a glass.”
Kay took out a second glass and poured two fingers of Scotch before adding a splash of water, and lowered herself into the nearest seat.
They sat quietly together, each lost in their thoughts, until Elizabeth reached across to gently tug a short strand of Kay’s dark hair, and she looked up into her gran’s worried green eyes.
Elizabeth looked surprisingly tired. Stark lines furrowed her forehead where her olive skin was usually smooth. Dark rings bruised beneath her eyes. “You had it, then?” Elizabeth asked in a low voice.
Kay wrinkled her nose. “If byityou mean dreaming that I was wrapped up in a burning darkness that was trying to choke me… then yes.”
Elizabeth snorted gently and took a sip of her drink, green eyes somber but entirely unsurprised.
“How long, Gran?”
“How long what, Kayleigh?”
Kay put her glass down on the table and leaned forward. “How long have you been having these dreams?”
Elizabeth gave her a long look. “A few weeks.”
“Why didn’t you say anything? I spoke to you last week!”
“What should I have said?” Elizabeth put on a mockingly sweet tone. “KayleighCariad, your grandmother has finally gone over the edge, want to join me?”
Kay couldn’t help but chuckle. But she wasn’t letting it go. “You know it’s more than that.”
Elizabeth closed her eyes and let her head bow for a moment. “Yes, it’s more than that.”
“Have you told anyone?”
