That’s when the dreams begin.
Rain pelts down on the sidewalk. Leaves from the large oak blow away in the wind, littering the ground. It’s late, close to midnight, and yet I can’t sleep. My body needs to move, which is why I’m outside in the rain. I don’t feel it, though.
The rain, that is.
It’s oddly quiet for a storm. No thunder and even the falling rain sounds faint. Like I’m behind a window, watching from the inside.
I have no destination in mind, letting my body tell me where it wants to go. I think I’m searching for something, but I don’t know what it is exactly. I haven’t lost anything…
My body hits a brick wall, and I go flying back, landing on the sidewalk unceremoniously. The soft tap of boots heads toward me, and I jerk my head up.
I didn’t hit a brick wall. I hit…
Brown boots with what looks like dirt on them. My eyes trail up to an old pair of jeans that have been washed one too many times but still hold the stains from their journey. The person wears a plain t-shirt with a dark stain over the chest. Dirt? No…not dirt, something else. Blood?
My eyes widen as I reach the face of this mysterious person. Staring back at me are soulless black eyes and a bloody smile. James laughs, taking a step closer. I desperatelysearch for a weapon, but suddenly the world around me fades to nothing but James and me.
“You killed me.” The words come out of James’s mouth, but it doesn’t sound like James. It sounds like multiple people speaking at once.
I open my mouth to reply, but it’s dry, and no words come out. I remind myself I don’t regret killing him, because I don’t. He needed to die. But I do regret killing him too late. I should have done something before he took my sister.
James laughs again, and then in a speed I can’t follow, he pounces on me. Large, rough hands wrap around my neck, cutting off my oxygen. I fight, trying to claw his eyes with my nails. Trying to kick him off. But nothing is working.
And the world is getting darker.
Smaller.
And then…
I shoot up in bed, gripping my neck. My breathing comes out in labored pants as if I just ran a mile in the sun rather than wake up from a bad dream. And that is all it was. A dream.
“Interesting,” a masculine voice says from next to me.
I scream and grab the closest weapon I can find, which happens to be a candleholder. I fling it in the direction of the voice, but it misses his body by a few inches, shattering against the wall.
Oziel lurks in the shadows of the bedroom. He looks so natural in the dark, as if he was born from it and commands it. He could, for all I know. My body betrays me as something coils low in my belly. Oziel looks just as good as he did earlier, donning the same black attire.New silver rings adorn his horns, and I’m tempted to reach out and touch them. I won’t though.
“How the hell did you get in here?” I demand, forcing myself to stop ogling him. “I locked the door.” I remember specifically turning the latch and making sure it was locked once Garvan left.
“You think a lock will stop me from getting to you?”
His words should not send heat straight to my core. They should piss me off—which they do—but something else stirs within me. Something I don’t allow myself to dwell on for too long.
Oziel pushes off the wall and stalks closer. I reach for the blankets and pull them tighter around me, wishing I had more clothes. Not that I’m indecent, but the way Oziel scans my body makes me feel completely exposed to him.
“You need to eat.”
“I’m not hungry.” Which is a lie. My stomach outs me a moment later, deciding it’s the perfect time to growl.
The corners of Oziel’s lips twitch up. “You also need to get dressed. I have clothes coming?—”
“I don’t want your clothes,” I snap. “I have my own.”
“You mean in that little backpack of yours? I burned it.”
“You what?!” I jump out of bed, modesty be damned. I round on him, not stopping until we are chest to chest. Oziel’s gaze goes down to my bare legs before meeting my eyes again.
“You had no fucking right,” I growl. “Those were my things. Mine!” It wasn’t much, just a few clothes and toiletries, but that’s not the point. He went through myshit, deemed it junk, and burned it. How dare he take away what little I have. Those were my last connections to Grym Hollow and the family I left behind.
