I smiled. “I hopeso.”
There was a childlike innocence to him, but he was my age so I’d have to consciously focus on not talking to him like I wouldTatum.
“I’m tired,” headded.
“I know, bud. We’re going to bed.” Damien’s voice was husky behindme.
I straightened my back and addressed the room. “Tatum is going in with us tonight. She’s… reached maturity, so plans have changed abit.”
Josephine’s eyes flicked to Tatum, whose cheeks were beet red, and I saw pity in the older woman’sgaze.
Mr. Hansen simply nodded. “The more themerrier.”
That earned a smile from Tatum, for which I was grateful. Now I just needed to clear my head of all the shit that had happened in the past hour orso.
I’m in control. I project peace. I give protection. I harnessstrength.
I bent down to snap on my dream band and load up with weapons. When I stood, I saw that everyone had crawled into bed and the only open space was between Tatum and Damien. A very small space. It’s like the universe was totally conspiring to get melaid.
As I crawled and settled in, I thought of Master Aki’s dojo. The white canvas mats. The open doors with wind blowing through the garden and the sounds of birds chirping. Tea steaming in a kettle. The weight of sleep pulled atme.
“See you on the other side,” Isaid.
“Oorah,” they chorused, and I grinned when I heard Tatum’s voice amongthem.
Tatum. God, I’d just taken responsibility of a twelve-year-old kid. If she got killed, I’d never be able to look at her mother or myself in the mirroragain.
Stopit!
I closed my eyes and stayed in complete silence, allowing no thoughts to enter. Master Aki said when you couldn’t get into a positive frame of mind before entering the Dream Wars, it was best to be a blankslate.
I thought of a white piece of paper and nothing else. Blank. Clean. Safe.White.
And then I wasout.
* * *
My feet slammedinto a green fluorescent puddle of sticky goo and I cursed, leaping out and spinning around.Crap!I’d brought us closer to the war than intended. I was at the top of a small hill, a major city down below. The ghouls had little cities with buildings and shit, places they laid their eggs and did whatever else they did while we fought for our lives. You didnotwant to land in one of those cities. They just waited for you to pop in and then pounced on you. It was zombie bloodcentral.
Damien appeared next to me and I rolled my eyes. “Are you narcoleptic? How do you fall asleep sofast?”
He eyed the nearby city and then scowled at me. “I’m tired, woman. I’ve barely slept allweek.”
Woman. That word normally brought my hackles up, but the way he’d said it sounded like a petname.
“Let’s get moving.” I groaned and dropped low, proceeding to get Damien and myself as far away from the city aspossible.
I’d messed up. I let Tatum and all this stuff get in my head and brought us too close to danger. I was better than this. Master Aki would bedisappointed.
As Damien and I came up over the top of the hill and down the backside, I saw two grunts fighting over a dead body. It looked like an older man whose arm had already been eaten off. I holstered my gun and pulled my samurai swords out; bullets this close to the city could bring others. I gave Damien one look, and then with catlike grace I crept up behind the ghouls as Damien pulled a knife from his boot and stalked beside me. Clients didn’t normally fight with me, usually cowering behind me, so this was an interesting change ofpace.
When I was within a foot of the grunt, close enough to hear the sucking sound as he finished off the bones, I brought my left sword across in a wide arc, taking his head clean off. Before the other grunt could even move, I slashed out with my right hand, taking his head off as well. As both of their ugly mugs rolled down the hill, I wiped the blood from my blades onto the ground and then sheathed them, looking up to see Damien watching me with a half-liddedgaze.
“That was oddly attractive,” he said in that husky voice ofhis.
I rolled my eyes. “Stop flirting with me.”Weren’t we just at each other’s throat a few nights ago? What the hell is happening?This was a weird bipolar relationship I’d landed myself in. I didn’t do flirting and smiles and all that crap. All of that softened you, and I needed to be a merciless killer rightnow.
“I’ll try, but no promises.” Hegrinned.
