Chapter Eleven

Samantha was relieved when she looked on her calendar and saw that she had just completed her first trimester. In that three months she had helped Vince with his papers and helped him study for finals. There was one thing, however, that she could not help him with. Since she had not read the book, she couldn’t help him write the final for Professor Krieger.

And during that fast three months Vince had been training Mykella how to concentrate and use her mental abilities rather than using a weapon. If she can travel inside the dream web then they should practice surfing the web of unsuspecting people.

Once they had gone inside Karl’s dream and were quickly sorry for doing it. Vince had no idea his friend had very erotic – bordering on pornographic – dreams about several women on campus, and all at the same time. When they walked in on him, they saw Karl and three other women naked on the bed. Vince quickly turned and placed his hand over Mykella’s eyes and turned her around and they exited the room.

The next night she had pulled Karl into Vince’s dream. He was, as usual, confused to be standing in the same room with his friend and some pretty young woman. Vince explained that it was merely research for his class – trying to lure people into his dream. He thought Karl bought it.

There had also been other insignificant travels, professors and fellow classmates, but it was Karl they frequented as well as Krieger. Why these two he didn’t know. Maybe it was because they had the easiest channel to get to.

He was grateful that neither man ever inquired about who Mykella was and why she was in every dream of Vince’s.

In fact, this thought put an idea into his head and he approached Mykella one night. “I want you to try something totally different this time,” he began and she nodded. “I want to see if you can transport me into someone else’s dream tonight. I need to know if you can move only me. Do you understand?”

She hesitated for a moment. What would she do without his guidance? But she nodded nevertheless and asked who he wanted to meet tonight.

Vince thought about it for a moment. Mykella was technically three months old now and she is due to be born roughly six more; his mother made a comment – he recalls now – that she was to be born in seven or eight months – depending on how one looks at it mathematically. He needed allies now. When the war breaks out he knew that he and Mykella would need all the help they could get.

“See if you can connect me to my sister.” It was a long shot, but maybe if she had a little visit paid by him she’d change her mind on some things.

She stood up off his bed with a cautionary look and shook her head. “I don’t think I can do that – she’s so far away.” Truth be told, it was the fact that she didn’t really like or trust Xan Andrews. She didn’t believe her brother when he most needed a friend.

“Dreams are never really that far away if you think about it. Try, please.”

She caved in with a sigh and relaxed her muscles – do spirits have muscles to relax? – and closed her eyes. Through her inner eye she saw clouds racing across the sky and then she felt Vince’s energy. She had never really seen his sister so she didn’t know what she looked like. Using the electric vibes she was receiving from Vince she began feeling something moving with the clouds at a rapid pace. She opened her eyes and saw that she stood in Vince’s room alone.

She sat down on the bed and felt the sudden weight of the world lying on her shoulders. Yes, she most likely made a positive connection, but so what? What good would it do to know how to travel inside of dreams when the human race will be dead anyway? And who was she, little Mykella Brown? Savior of what? Does humanity deserve to live? She has in her hands the ability to destroy it by letting the Dreamkillers have their way.

It was too much for her to think about. She turned and buried her face in his pillow and burst into violent tears.

Alexandria was surprised to see her brother once again. She was not shocked or excited, but she acknowledged his presence when he approached her in her bedroom. She had been sitting at an old vanity brushing her hair when Vince materialized in the middle of the room.

She didn’t turn to look at him; she merely looked through the mirror. “Has it begun yet?” she asked without emotion.

He knelt down next to her and looked at her profile. “Xan, I need your help.”

This did not change her manner. She did not even ask what kind of help he needed.

“Please. You’re all I got – you’re my sister.”

She flinched and turned at him suddenly. “Yeah? Then you shouldn’t have told me to go running home like a little bitch that can’t take care of themselves!”

It was Vince who flinched next. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I was upset that day.”

“Has it begun yet?”

There was a new look in her eyes that he couldn’t determine. “What? What are you talking about?”

“The war.”

He stood up and told himself that now was a great time to wake up; he was beginning to feel very uneasy here with this person who looks like his sister. Something was keeping him here at this moment.

He looked down and saw that what he first thought to be a brush was indeed no brush but a hand-sized garden rake. He saw the three gashes going down the side of her head; her blonde hair had been matted by dried and fresh blood.

“The second brigade is still waiting to be launched.” She licked her blood-red lips and smiled up at him. “Fair warning, my beauty:”

With a motion so fast he could not calculate, she jumped up and pinned Vince up against the wall, the garden rake pressed up against his neck. He could feel the three points stabbing him like needles. There was no time to breath as he stared into what he thought was his sister’s eyes.

“We will be more numerous and more knowledgeable than the first, shall we say, unsuccessful brigade. We will not be so easy to see like my ancestors were.” Spittle flew from her lips as she spoke.

Ancestors?

He couldn’t believe that he was looking at his sister. No, this cannot be her. This was just some evil spirit who has invaded her dream. It has to be; Xan would do nothing to hurt me. And then logical sense came into play. If this was an evil spirit waiting for this dream, then they must have known he was coming. It was waiting for him. But why?

To warn him of the future like Mom has already done?

Stolen story; please report.

Vince closed his eyes and forced a smile. “If you’re referring to the next battle, and it will be the final battle, I already know about it,” he said and Xan tossed him a wicked sneer.

“You’ve been contacted, I see. No matter. Victory will be ours.” She drew back, letting Vince free.

He stared at her while rubbing his neck – it had not been punctured – and came to a revelation. He straightened his back and then bowed his head to her with a smile. “Until we meet again,” and then he vanished from the room as suddenly as he had appeared.

His eyes snapped open and he stared at the clock on his nightstand. He didn’t want to wake Karl just because he was awake. This had been the first time in a long time that he woke without saying good-bye to Mykella. He didn’t know why but he suddenly missed being with her.

If he had had a dream like the one he just had five months ago he probably would have been frightened out of his ever-loving mind. Being as it is, he knew something the demon didn’t realize that he knew. It couldn’t kill him – not without an order to do it. And it also seemed as if it did not have a master yet.

Vince closed his eyes again and felt a different drawing as he felt his conscious mind slip away. “Mom?” He looked around and found her, once again, standing on the cliff.

She walked toward her son and they met one another beside a tall fire. “You need to be more cautious. It will read your mind if you give it half the chance.” She turned her head and looked out into the sea. She sighed; Vince thought it sounded like disappointment.

“Tell me, what was it?” If he was going to do as he was asked to, he needed to know what he was up against.

“Dreamkiller.” She turned back and looked at Vince with fright in her eyes. “I should never have asked you to do this. I don’t want to lose you, too. I thought that if I accepted my new fate as guardian I could protect everyone.”

Lose me, too? Such an odd statement to make. “Who,”

Tracy shook her head. “Doesn’t matter anymore. I think you should stop helping Mykella. It’ll only get you killed. She can take care of herself.”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing and he shook his head. “I don’t think I can do that. She’s like my family now – I love her mother. And no, I don’t think she can take care of herself; she’s just a child for Christ’s sake.” He stopped and lowered his eyes from his mother. “No. I’m going to see this through to the end. If all of humanity is destined to be wiped out by Dreamkillers, it really doesn’t matter if I stay by her side now.”

Tracy thought she had everything figured out when she had taken that eternal fall from the tower so many years ago. It was James Whitaker who pleaded with her to take his place as guardian – Allen had sliced his being in two just before dueling with Rick. She agreed with the assumption that there would be nothing to confront her and attempt to gain access into the Forbidden Realms. Unfortunately, James explained, there will always be someone trying to get into Eden. It’s in nature, both human and otherwise, to wish to possess the ultimate knowledge – to know God so to speak.

But she didn’t expect it to be Dreamkillers again. And they have evolved into something more sinister than what Orion once created. Several have been created, still, from the nightmares of innocent humans like before which turned them into their living nightmares. Others, and these are the ones she feared most, had been created through the natural process of evolution. Mortals wishing to gain supernatural strength no matter the consequences. And these are the young ones who want to take over the world and they believe that they cannot die.

Tracy looked up at her son and nodded. “I understand. I’ll look out for you anyway.”

Vince smiled and turned to leave but she reached out and put her hand on his arm. He turned and she gave him that frightened look again. “I’ll keep you posted if I hear anything from this side of reality.”

He wanted so much to embrace his mother but he thought it would show a weakness that the Dreamkillers would pick up on. And he would never lead them to this place, wherever this place is. This place – why does she bring me here all the time? Is she trapped here for all eternity?

“No,” she said, reading his mind. “I chose to remain here. You see, my job description is quite simple. Once Allen found his way to the chamber, the location needed to be relocated – that was my first job. I wanted a nice location.” They looked out over the sea. “The physical location of Eden has never changed – only the entrance changes. The guardians have been empowered to do so. We are the angels protecting the garden from any evildoers.”

He gazed at his mother with pitying eyes. “I’m sorry.”

Tracy tossed him a puzzled look and asked what for. “Why do I need your apologies? I’ve never done anything I haven’t asked for.”

“I’m sorry that you chose this position in life. I don’t much believe in heaven but I know there’s gotta be somewhere better than here if you were to’ve died.”

She touched his neck and smiled. “You’ll understand someday, my beautiful son. We all have a calling. I’ve heard mine and this is where I am. You will have a calling to listen to as well someday.”

“I thought my calling was to protect Mykella,” he asked behind confusion.

“No. That was only a favor you’re doing for mankind. You have written yourself into the prophecies but this is not your true calling.”

He didn’t much like the sound of this but he agreed to it nonetheless. “I’ll be seeing you soon, I suppose?”

She nodded. “As soon as I hear anything I’ll let you know.”

* * *

Karl never did understand why his dreams had been invaded almost every night by Vince and that girl named Mykella. He enjoyed his own personal dreams. In fact, once they entered his dreams, he woke up more tired than if he had never gotten any sleep at all. Vince was his best friend, but damn it, enough’s enough.

And when they awoke the next morning it was Karl who approached Vince on the subject. He didn’t know how to begin without being so blunt, but sometimes being straightforward cannot be compromised. “I need my own dreams back,” he brought up as they were getting dressed that morning.

Vince looked up, about to protest, and then thought better of it. He didn’t respond right away.

Karl took the silence as offensive. “I have a private life, too. I don’t need you and that girl keeping me company anymore – I’m starting to find it freaky.”

“We didn’t see you last night.”

Karl stopped and looked up at him. “The hell you didn’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You may not have been there but she was.”

Vince stared at Karl for a moment, wondering if he were telling him the truth. Why would she want to see him? Alone? “You’re shitting me.”

“Oh yeah? Then why the hell was she all over me like a cat in heat? You need to keep that pussy on a leash, man.”

Vince could feel his temples begin thumping and his entire body shoot up thirty degrees. He shook his head. “You…why are you lying to me?”

“Lying? Hell, the one thing she didn’t try to do is give me a blow job.”

“Knowing you, why didn’t you just let her?”

Karl grunted and turned his head. “I’ve got pride, you know. ‘Sides, like I said, all this shit’s freaking me out.”

“You might want to leave now – before I beat your fucking head in.”

“Me?” Karl looked offended. “Ask her yourself, you bastard.” He grabbed a shirt and left Vince to himself before any further words were said.

He stood, staring after Karl, for a couple of minutes and then almost fell down onto his bed and rubbed his hands over his face. If all of this was true, what did it mean? Why was she acting like a slut all of a sudden? Surely these feelings didn’t come into play until they were at least fifteen or sixteen years old. Why was she all over him?

And then he forced his mind to give him the benefit of the doubt. He never once thought that Karl could be lying – even when he first heard it.

He stood and left the room only to go downstairs to the dorm commons store. He looked up and down for any sleeping pills, but then had to settle for liquid nighttime cold relief. He paid for it and went back up to his room.

It only took him about twenty minutes for the cold medicine to kick in and he was fast asleep by twelve forty that afternoon.