Ambushed (26 page)

Except
that was impossible. Her clothes had been little more than bloody
ribbons when we'd left Chicago. She would have had to have purchased
new clothes, but more club wear wasn't the kind of thing we should be
wasting money on right now.

I
tried to get Brindi's attention, but she ignored me, choosing instead
to continue to rub her face against my arm like some kind of blonde
housecat. That was when I finally realized I had to be dreaming.

I
tried to make her disappear. We were never apart for more than a few
minutes while I was awake. It seemed unfair that I couldn't at least
have some privacy inside my own dreams, but apparently my
subconscious was firmly of the opinion that she belonged here with
me. Brindi flickered a little, growing slightly translucent before
becoming solid again and returning to clinging to me.

I
would have tried harder to remove her from my dream, but being here,
aware I was dreaming, was awakening memories that were demanding my
full attention. The last time I'd had a lucid dream there had been
another girl, the one Brindi reminded me of…a girl named Adri.

It
all came back to me in a rush. Her situation, our kiss, my fight
against dream werewolves at the end. That was the kiss that I'd been
on the point of remembering at the club before Brindi had distracted
me.

The
realization of what I'd forgotten rocked my world in completely
unexpected ways. I staggered over to a bench that had appeared just a
second before, apparently summoned by my need, and sat down.
Dream-Brindi trailed along behind me, never losing contact with my
skin, and sat down next to me. The bench hadn't been large enough to
accommodate both of us when I'd sat down, but it stretched as Brindi
lowered herself onto it, growing so that there was room for us.

I
wanted to scream. There was no reason to believe that my dream had
been anything more than just another dream, but I lived in a world
that contained vampires and werewolves, a world where people could
shift into terrible, fearsome beasts. Not only that, there was at
least one instance of an individual who
could
travel to other people's dreams.

Besides,
my dream with Adri had been too real, too detailed to be just another
dream, which meant that she was really out there. She'd been in
danger when I'd talked to her last, but I'd been so wrapped up in my
worries about Rachel, Brandon and Kaleb that I had told her I
couldn't help her.

That
wasn't true anymore. I could help her now—I wanted to help
her—but I didn't have any way of getting in contact with her.
She was the girl I'd been dreaming about since even before I'd made
my first transformation to a wolf, and I couldn't do a single damn
thing to help her.

It
was infuriating in the way that only complete powerlessness could be.
I had resources now that I hadn't had before, but that still wasn't
any kind of guarantee. I could find a sketch artist and pay millions
plastering her face on every television in America, but that still
might not be enough and it might even put her in more danger.

I
started making plans, subtle plans to try and find her anyway. I'd
hire private investigators. She'd had a hint of an accent, Minnesota
or maybe Canadian. It was hard to tell for sure which it had been,
but it was at least
something
to go on.

Even
as my mind was picking and choosing amongst all of the different
possibilities I knew it wasn't where I should be spending my time. I
should be thinking about ways to find more hybrids and wolves rather
than trying to find a girl who might not even exist, but I couldn't
help myself.

My
mind stopped thinking about her mid-thought and it took me nearly a
full second to understand why. We weren't…I wasn't alone.
Dream-Brindi vanished as I jumped to my feet and spun in a quick
circle. Apparently my subconscious felt like she belonged with me
even in the middle of my dreams but the urge to protect her, to get
her out of danger was even stronger still.

I
completed the scan of my surroundings, but there wasn't anyone out
there…only there was. Visually there wasn't anything out of
the ordinary and I couldn't hear or smell anything, but I could feel
someone nearby.

It
was a little like the feeling you get when someone is staring at you,
but magnified a thousand times. As I forced myself to control my
breathing and clear my mind, the sensation grew until I could have
closed my eyes and pointed at whomever it was.

They
were moving, not quickly, but they were orbiting me. I could tell
direction, but not distance, but the simple fact that I knew they
were there had robbed them of their biggest weapon. Except that it
had to be one of only two people. I couldn't believe that Adri would
have come to me like this, not after our last encounter, which meant
this had to be Dream Stealer.

I
tracked him with my eyes for several seconds so that he would know I
really did know where he was.

"I
know you're there. Show yourself."

The
air shimmered slightly and then he appeared in front of me, only he
looked nothing at all like Adri had described him. He was huge,
easily the most imposing man I'd ever seen, and he looked like he
wasn't a day past thirty.

"How
did you know I was present in your dream, Alec?"

"I
don't know, Dream Stealer, I just did. Since when have you started
spying on other members of the resistance?"

He
shot me a look that awoke my beast with an accompanying surge of
anger, but even here inside of my dream I ruled my beast, not the
other way around.

"You're
awfully quick to claim that title. Most spend years just trying to
keep their head down. It's only once the Coun'hij has backed us into
a corner that most of us choose to actively fight them."

"I
don't believe in halfway measures. I spent the first two decades of
my life trying to live in the gray and all it bought me was several
brushes with death and nearly losing my sister. Once I decided to
rescue her from Vincent I knew there wasn't any going back."

"The
timing of that strikes me as being awfully suspicious."

My
beast didn't like that, didn't appreciate being called a liar. This
time I wasn't fully able to suppress the power that exploded out of
me at the accusation.

"You
can't honestly believe that I'm still working with Kaleb."

Dream
Stealer responded to my burst of power with a stinging, lashing
metaphysical wind of his own.

"By
all accounts you'd finally started acting like a proper heir in the
weeks leading up to your disappearance. You killed vampires in St.
Louis and then flew down to the border and started volunteering for
missions. You were even instrumental in killing an Ancient. I think
that you found the power and acclaim addictive."

My
lips pulled back from my teeth. It wasn't a smile, it was the human
equivalent to showing my hackles.

"While
I was down there, I rescued Jaclyn Annikov from a bunch of werewolves
and told her that I wanted to know the truth about what was going on
down there. She sent me to a small town called Naco where I saw
Brandon's people slaughter nearly a hundred people and then stage the
scene to make it look like it was the work of jaguars."

I
needed Dream Stealer. We didn't have to like each other, but I needed
him to trust me. I was still on the outside when it came to the real
core of the resistance. If I could convince him to vouch for me it
would help get me access to the people I needed for operations like
the one to rescue Agony.

Dream
Stealer shot me a sardonic smile as he continued to slowly orbit me.

"Ah
yes, I've heard reports of your 'shocking' revelation, but it wasn't
anything that most of us didn't already suspect. You breaking that
particular story may have scared off a few independents who otherwise
would have gone down to help fight the cats, but it's made no
difference other than that. Brandon's little army hasn't shrunk
appreciably and all of the sympathizer packs are still just as much
in bed with Kaleb and the rest as they ever were."

"What
are you saying? That Kaleb used me to intentionally break that story
as a way of getting me enough street cred to set up the resistance
for some kind of massive takedown?"

"You
said it, not me."

I
wanted to scream, but I knew that wouldn't accomplish anything. Dream
Stealer seemed determined not to trust me.

"My
friends and I nearly died getting my sister out of Sanctuary and
we've nearly died several times since then. There was a hit squad of
Coun'hij enforcers waiting for us the last time we got off of a
plane."

"All
that proves is that your friends are either in on it or spectacularly
stupid. The kind of near defeats you're describing are less important
than the fact that you've so far managed to come out on top. You
can't honestly expect me to believe that you beat Brandon of all
people."

Dream
Stealer couldn't have done a better job hitting all of my hot-button
issues if he'd had a script to read from.

"I
stole Kaleb's sword before I left and I used it during the fight with
Brandon, but even that almost wasn't enough. I dived to the side at
the last moment during the end of our fight and he was swept off of
the train by a metal girder."

"I
stand by my original statement; that is highly unlikely."

His
tone had gone from doubting to downright scathing and it was finally
too much for me. Maybe it was the fact that Carson had pushed me to
the edge such a short time before, but I lost control of my beast.

My
transformation exploded out from me with a blast of energy that
knocked Dream Stealer back a full step and then he likewise shifted
into his hybrid form with a roar of power that came very close to
equaling what I'd just unleashed. For the briefest of seconds
everything balanced on the edge of a knife and then I forced myself
to take a step backwards.

"What
is it going to take to convince you that we're on the same side?"

"Your
death at the hands of Kaleb or Puppeteer seems like a good starting
place."

I
gritted my teeth and forced myself to take another step backwards
instead of springing forward and trying to rip his throat out.

"I'm
going to rescue Agony, but I could use your help."

That
got his attention. "What do you know?"

"That
he's been captured, but little else. My contacts are still trying to
figure out where he's being kept."

Dream
Stealer shook his head at me. "You don't know where he's
currently located or when and how they are moving him?"

"No,
do you?"

"If
I did then I certainly wouldn't tell you. Kaleb must really think I'm
an idiot."

My
lips pulled back again, but this time they exposed hybrid fangs that
were capable of snapping the neck of a rhinoceros.

"How
many times do I have to tell you that I'm not working with him?"

"Fine,
I'll bite. I think that Kaleb tracked Agony down months ago but
decided to hold off going after him until he could set up the biggest
trap imaginable. I think you were sent out to try and rally as much
support as you can behind the cause of freeing Agony, but really
you'll just be leading everyone who joins you into a massive ambush.
With a single stroke Kaleb and the rest will gut the resistance and
position themselves for another century or two of uncontested rule."

"Believe
what you want, but I will save Agony even if it costs me my life."

"Brave
words, but that's all they are, just words. Your actions tell another
story."

He'd
finally succeeded in confusing me, but the addition of another
emotion into the mix didn't do anything to dilute the rage I was
feeling towards him. My beast didn't like being outsmarted any more
than it liked being made fun of.

"I
shouldn't give you the satisfaction, but I'll go ahead and ask. How
have any of my actions done anything but support the fact that I'm
prepared to risk my life to better the situation of our race?"

"The
girl you were dreaming about. I'm not an idiot, I can recognize the
signs of a skin addiction as well as anyone else. No honorable shape
shifter would choose to addict someone like that. That was the first
sign that Kaleb wasn't what he seemed, the first sign that he was
going to have to be stopped along with the rest of the murderers and
thieves on the Coun'hij. It's one more indication that you're just
like your father."

I
wanted to argue with him, wanted to explain that it hadn't been my
choice, that it had been a freak series of events, but I already knew
he wouldn't believe me. I'd been convicted since the first moment
that Dream Stealer had seen Dream-Brindi.

"I
won't even dignify that with a response. Get out of my dream now and
don't come back or we'll see just how deadly inside of the dream you
actually are."

Adriana Paige
Marauder's Gas Station
Central Wyoming

Sometime in the last day or two Taggart and I had gotten our schedules mixed
up. I would have suspected him of doing it on purpose so that we'd be
back to twenty-four-hour coverage up at the store, but that would
have broken his primary rule.

In
order to make dream contact with someone Taggart had to be asleep at
the same time as they were, so moving his schedule forward would make
it even harder to link up with anyone on the West Coast.

It
was possible that he had some operatives on the East Coast, but even
if that had been the case he wouldn't have needed to advance his
schedule forward more than a couple of hours to sync up with them.
The only other explanation was that he was trying to get ahold of
someone on another continent, but given all of the time I was still
spending up at the store, I hadn't had a good chance to ask him yet.