A Trace of Moonlight (31 page)

M
elanie lay stiff and unmoving in her own bed, her face waxen and pale. The violin remained clutched in her skeletal fingers. Any effort at removing the instrument was met with steel-rod resistance. Slightly reassuring, though the lack of any movement was not. I pressed a damp cloth to her forehead.

She needed a bath something fierce, but she needed to wake up more. Brystion sat beside me, his hand on my leg. Through the doorway, Nobu paced like a caged thing, his usual smugness gone in the wake of the situation. His wings flared out and back and then disappeared altogether. Beyond him, Robert and Charlie sat on the sofa, Benjamin’s babbling filling the silence with much-needed levity. Phineas perched at the end of Melanie’s bed like a miniature equine gargoyle, his blue eyes staring at her intently.

The clink of dishes from the kitchen indicated Brandon was fixing up something. From the way my stomach was growling, I really hoped it wouldn’t be a liquid lunch.

We were gathered in Mel’s apartment, filled with its
odd assortment of Celtic ornaments and instruments, amps and sheet music. Controlled chaos is what I’d always called it, with Melanie at the center of it all.

With her so quiet now, the clutter was overwhelming. Sonja brushed past Nobu, her own wings Glamoured away. She laid a hand on Brystion’s shoulder, leaning down to whisper something in his ear. He nodded once and followed her out of the room.

I found Melanie’s hand and squeezed it. “Please,” I murmured. “Please wake up.”

Nobu loomed over me, staring at her. “No change?”

Phineas shook his head. “None. I don’t know if it’s that she’s too weak at this point, or if she’s just unwilling to wake up.”

“We need a healer. I’ll TouchStone as many of them as we can find if it will help.” I slumped in the chair, my head feeling like it was stuffed with cotton. “In the meantime . . .” I closed my eyes. “I release you.”

The TouchStone bond between Nobu and me snapped with a metaphysical vibration, resulting in a startled grunt from him.

Nobu rubbed his jawline ruefully. “New experience for me.”

“Yeah, well, we’re past the danger point right now and I can’t afford to have you draining me. I’ve got too much riding on my ability to walk.” My stomach rumbled. “And it makes me hungry.”

“Well, then, I guess it’s good Brandon fixed lunch.” Brystion approached with a plate heaped with burgers. My belly roiled, but the protein was definitely needed, so I snagged the one on top and ate it, sucking a stray dollop of ketchup from my thumb.

“So what’s the plan? Can she be brought out of it?”

“I’m not sure it’s going to be as simple as all that,
Abby. It’s not a natural coma—her body needs time to adjust to the proximity of the violin,” Phineas said, rubbing the nub of his horn on the lump of Melanie’s foot beneath the blankets. “And give me some of that. I’m hungry.”

Brystion sighed as Sonja stepped in behind him. I took another burger, broke off a piece, and fed it to Phineas.

“You need to tell her,” she said, her voice low.

“Tell me what?” I steeled myself against whatever new catastrophe was going to come hurtling itself at me. “I already know things are a little screwed up with whatever happened between me and Ion. Not sure what that has to do with Melanie, though.”

Sonja shifted uneasily. “It’s not about Melanie.”

I set down the last of my burger on the plate. “Enough with the bullshit. Spit it out.”

She shook her head. “Better if I show you.” Her gaze darted to Brystion and he nodded. “We can do it now. In fact, the sooner the better, I think.”

He gave me a wan smile. “I’ll have to see if I can meet you there. I don’t think I’ve ever really tried to fall asleep on purpose.”

I raised a brow. “Are we meeting in the Dreaming?”

Sonja nodded. “Yes. I think it’s time you saw my brother’s Dreaming Heart.”

“All right,” I said finally. “Let’s see what damage we can cause.” Both brother and sister winced at my choice of words and I sighed. “Once more into the breach, dear friends.”

My Dreaming Heart remained silent, the gate unlocking as I approached it to allow Sonja in. Behind me the outer scaffolding of my old Victorian was slowly
being pieced together. A small thing, plain and simple, but it felt more like home now.

Perhaps it was only that I was no longer hiding behind my past to avoid thinking about my future, although why my inner brain had decided to go with a more rustic design, I wasn’t quite sure. I hadn’t had time to take a look inside, but the curling wisteria vines that crawled up the chimney let out a heavenly scent, the green all the more brilliant against the silvery stone.

A willow sapling sprouted behind the house, the wispy branches starting to unfurl tiny leaves, and a miniature brook trickled merrily into a deep black pool, the fireflies playing above it.

Sonja shook her head when she saw it. “You’ve changed it again.”

I shrugged. “Not on purpose. It seems to be manifesting as it will.” I waved her off. “Just show me what’s going on with Brystion.”

She stiffened. “Okay. Then let’s go.”

We walked out of the gate to the edge of the path like before, staring out at the darkness. “This shouldn’t be as hard. After all, the two of you have shared a rather intimate bond via your TouchStoning . . . not to mention he made his home here.”

I threw out my thoughts to the pinpricks of light dotting the sky before us. The bells in my hair chimed immediately, ringing with a laughing enthusiasm.
Home . . . home . . . home . . .

In the distance came a faint echo in response. “There.” I pointed as the crystalline road, watching as it shivered.

“Yes,” she agreed, taking me by the hand.

I glanced up as we traversed the pathway, but if my
sharks were around, they did not make themselves known. An uneasy flutter took root in my belly, but perhaps they didn’t think they would be needed?

“So what is this all about?” I tried to squash the flush of nervousness in my belly. The Dreaming had always been such an intimate place for me and Ion, but always on his terms . . . and in my Heart. The idea of visiting him in his was disconcerting.

If I admitted the truth to myself, I was a little afraid of what I might see. If he had naked statues of me dotting the place, he and I would have to have words.

I said as much to Sonja and she snorted.

“Please. Do you think Ion would stoop to that level of cheese factor, even in his dreams?”

“Not on purpose,” I muttered. “Though it might just manifest.” And then there was only silence as we faded into the darkness. The bells rang out in small intervals, the responding sound coming louder and louder until we stood outside a gate very like my own.

A deep burnished gold, it was the same color Ion’s eyes turned when his incubus form was excited. Beyond the gate was a dark forest, trees clustered so thickly that no light seemed to pass through it.

“So how do we get in? Or will he meet us here?”

Sonja frowned. “It should be open. He knows we’re coming. I suspect you’ve got the key right there.” She pointed to the bells. “They certainly seem to be responding to this place.”

I hesitated, not sure I wanted to try to force myself in. If Ion had something he needed to show me, then it really should be on his terms.

“Brystion?” I called his name in a hoarse whisper, somewhat unsurprised when there was no response.

With a sigh, I shook the bells in my hair. Not much of a doorbell, but it might be enough to at least let him know it was us.

The gate shuddered at the sound, creaking open with a great whine. I winced at it, but didn’t resist when Sonja pulled me inside. The gate slammed shut behind us, the lock turning with a click.

We were engulfed in the woods, the trees pressing thick and suffocating around us. The hiss of pine needles was the only thing I could hear as they sifted off the branches. I blinked. For all that the trees seemed so robust from a distance, they were . . . dying.

“What’s going on here?” I already knew the answer, but I needed to hear it from her directly.

“He’s not meant to be human, Abby. Whatever you did to him, he can’t sustain it.” Grief flickered at the corners of her mouth. “He’s spent his entire life searching for a way to have his own Dreaming Heart . . . and now he’s got one. He’s going to burn himself out trying to keep it.”

“And what happens when . . . when he can’t keep it anymore?”

She shrugged, looking away. “What do you think? His mortal form grows weaker by the day. We weren’t meant for this sort of life.
He
isn’t.” She grabbed my arm, her fingers pressing into my wrist. “You have to give it back. Find him and fucking give it back.”

“I don’t know how.”

“Please.” Her eyes filled with tears. “Please. You have to.”

I sucked in a deep breath, the weight of everything happening crashing down about me. Melanie. Maurice. Talivar. Brystion. How the hell was one person supposed to handle it all?

One step at a time,
my inner voice reminded me.
Or by drinking heavily.

“Because that’s helpful . . .” I muttered at it. “Is he in there?”

Sonja hesitated, her brows drawn tightly. “He’s rather . . . territorial about this place.”

I nodded. “All right. Let’s see what I can do.” Some part of me quailed at facing him here, but I also knew the succubus was right. The extra power her brother had granted me wasn’t mine to keep . . . and even if it was, I’d be damned if I’d just hold on to it. He’d given so much for me . . . could I do any less for him?

She let me walk away from her and I slipped through the trees, sparing a glance behind me. The succubus seemed so small, her wings hunched and sad.

The trees whispered something to me, but I couldn’t quite make out the words. The bells chimed eagerly, though, the pulse of longing sweeping through me, pushing me forward. The branches parted as I walked, letting me into tiny spaces I couldn’t have imagined getting through.

I hoped like hell I’d manage to get out if things didn’t go well. I wasn’t sure if the sharks would subconsciously manage their way in through here.

“Ion?” His name drifted into the darkness, swallowed up between the trees. A faint gold swell of color spilled from some place in the distance, edging the bark with its own halo.

Abby . . .

My name carried on the breeze, swirling around me like a nearly tangible force, beckoning and seductive. A deep pull pulsed through me, taking root in my groin, a flush of lust rippling over my skin and burning my limbs.

The Dreaming Heart of an incubus. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised at my reaction, given our particular relationship.

Still.

The golden glow grew brighter and I shivered, drawn to it. The trees faded away and I was running, pushing through, and my feet were bare and the pine needles stuck between my toes, but maybe they were hooves, and a set of antlers burst from my brow, a long tail flicking behind me . . .

I blinked. A stone cottage stood there . . . and I was myself. Dressed in my usual jeans and T-shirt.

In front of the cottage stood Brystion . . . or something like him. His figure shifted in and out from his mortal form to his daemonic form and back again, the edges of him blurry, as though his own subconscious couldn’t quite figure out what he should be.

“Abby?”

I approached him cautiously, ready to shield myself if necessary. I trusted him, but traversing Melanie’s dreams had shown me how easily I could be attacked. His gaze became confused and I stopped. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know.” He glanced down, as though trying to figure out what to say. “I can’t seem to hold on to the Dreaming.” He held out his hand, waggling his fingers. “It’s slipping away from me.” He lurched forward and grabbed my arm. “Can you help me?”

Heat prickled up my wrist, arousal and lust mixing in a hazy rush. My mouth dropped open despite myself. If he was surprised at my reaction, he didn’t show it. His own eyes lit up with a familiar glow and I nearly sobbed to see it, his form becoming dark and antlered.

“Ion,” I murmured, stroking the top of his head, the hair trailing through my fingers like wet silk.

“Something’s missing,” he muttered.

“I know. You gave me your power. Don’t you remember?”

His daemon form scoffed at me. “Why would I do that?”

“To save me, Ion. You did it to save me . . . and it worked.”

Confusion warred on his face with something far more sly and he leaned forward to kiss me—

Desire exploded as his lips met mine and an instant later we were on the ground, my clothes gone, his clawed fingers pricking my shoulders. He nipped me hard, his cock brushing my belly. I kissed him, pulling back a moment later.

“We don’t have time for this right now.”

“There’s always time for this. For us. Don’t you see, Abby? This is how it should be. Every night. Every moment. This.”

I shook my head and pushed him off, my shields snapping into place. “This isn’t us, Ion. It’s whatever you put inside me, trying to get back to you . . . and I can’t.”

Hurt flashed deep in his eyes, but I pushed away the quell of my own emotions.