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Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Mykella had fallen asleep with her back against the wall, sitting next to the remains of Ben Krieger. She didn’t want to sleep, but it claimed her nevertheless.

She dreamt of her mother in her good days, although she, herself was her present age. She didn’t understand why her mother was younger and she was the same age. It almost looked like they were twins. They were in an old house, falling apart like all the houses around the world. Her mother hadn’t noticed her right away.

But when Samantha saw her daughter, they ran into each other’s arms. Both had tears in their eyes.

Over and over, Samantha kept apologizing for things Mykella didn’t understand. Samantha apologized for Mykella’s father, who had abandoned them before Mykella was even born. She was sorry that she had gotten on the plane with Vince, which crashed outside Jerusalem.

Mykella didn’t question her mother on the things she didn’t know, she was too ecstatic to have her where she could talk.

Samantha, too, was overjoyed that Mykella was here. She had been trying to make contact with her daughter for some time, but the demon in human guise had created failure on all occasions.

She wasn’t even sure how Mykella got into her dreams now. “How did you do it?” she finally asked as they parted and, using the back of her finger, wiped her daughter’s tears away.

Mykella smiled and looked around. “It’s a long story.” She didn’t recognize the place with its wicker chairs and glass dining table. “It seems I’ve got this power to travel through people’s dreams,” she said as she found her mother’s eyes again. “I’m some kind of Dream Crusader.”

Samantha looked down, obviously guilty. “You know, then?”

Mykella was surprised. “You knew about it? You didn’t tell me?” Anger was simmering on the edge of explosion.

“How could I? You were a baby when I got sick. I couldn’t tell you. I tried to get into your dreams but she wouldn’t let me.”

“Who? Who wouldn’t let you?”

Samantha shook her head in fright. “The demon girl.”

“Who?”

They heard a rustling from behind and quickly turned around to see a young woman standing next to the table. “It’s me, my precious one.”

Mykella stared at her. She knew that she should know this woman, but she couldn’t place her.

“I’m your father’s sister – your Aunt, in a way.”

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Mykella stared at the woman with doubt in her eyes. “You’re too young to be Dad’s sister.”

She laughed at that remark. “Please. I chose to be this young for eternity.”

“Who are you?” Mykella wasn’t sure how she should feel about this person. She realized she should be as frightened as her mother, but she just couldn’t find that emotion right now; there was nothing horrifying about her.

“My name is Xan Andrews. I’m very surprised you don’t remember our last run-in.”

Mykella was trying to remember, but nothing was coming to her. “I swear I don’t know you.”

Xan shook her head. “You weren’t even born, so I suppose you wouldn’t remember. I shook your faith more than I shook your father’s.”

Mykella was beginning to see Xan’s true colors coming out. She closed her eyes and let her mind leave her body for a moment. She saw a young woman lying in her bed and she thought she was dead. Decoy; the woman lifted her up and tossed her across the room. The woman was rambling on about wave two, whatever that meant.

Mykella opened her eyes again and glared at Xan as she recalled what had happened so long ago. “You tried to kill Dad, didn’t you?”

Xan grinned and shook her head. “You don’t understand, Child. I couldn’t kill anyone back then; I had no master to order it,” she said and Mykella lowered her eyes. “But I have a master now.”

Mykella and Samantha looked up at the same time and saw the innocent turn malicious as Xan’s eyes turned red and her fingernails turned into claws.

Xan licked her lips and swung her arm up and back, ready to lash out at the closest person.

Mykella pushed her mother to the side just as the claw came slicing through the air, and through her right leg. Mykella let a scream escape her mouth. She grabbed her bleeding leg and dropped to the floor as tears ran out her eyes.

Samantha screamed as she went down to help her daughter. She looked down and saw that there were four deep cuts across her leg. She looked back up at Xan. “Damn you,” she screamed and Xan only laughed and tossed her head back.

Through her tears and her hair, Mykella watched Xan as she held her head back, laughing like a psychotic madman. Hatred was boiling as she watched the Dreamkiller. She closed her eyes and saw a sword in the blackness and when she opened her eyes again, she saw that a sword was lying on the floor next to her hand.

Xan didn’t have time to understand what was happening to her; in the next moment, Mykella was up on her feet and swinging her arm around her. Xan tried to move back, but it was only then that she saw the tip of the sword as it came through the air. She heard one last scream coming from Mykella and then all she saw was darkness as the sword came through her neck.

As the sword severed Xan’s head, it nearly knocked Mykella onto the ground, but she managed to level herself by leaning against it as the tip dropped to the floor. She watched the lifeless body fall to the floor with a heavy thud and she saw the head roll and flop across the room and hit the far wall; the eyes were still opened with confused expressions in them.

Samantha quickly caught her daughter in time as Mykella fell into her waiting arms. “Hush,” she whispered into Mykella’s ears. “It’s all right. You did well.” She didn’t know what else to say to her daughter under the circumstances. Celebrating your first kill wasn’t what she had in mind.

“Why?” Mykella was weeping in her mother’s arms and couldn’t control the flow. “I can’t do this anymore,” she cried out and she squeezed her mother’s arm.

Samantha cried for her daughter and knew then that Mykella’s prophecy was unfolding before her and there was nothing she could do to help alleviate the pain. “Be strong – you’re not alone,” was all she could think of saying to her.