Dreamscape (27 page)

A musty tang lingers in the air. I’ve still not been able
to track down the source, but I have my suspicions about Randalf. He’s
notorious for downing a whole dumpster-full of rotting garbage. He’s also one
of the few here who can access the mortal realm, even though I have strictly
forbidden it due to his errant behavior. I shall have to place another tracker
on him.

Amelia gives a sharp squeeze to my hand and leans toward
me. “Who are all these
people
?”

“Agents,” I tell her, spinning the word with a calm I don’t
feel.

Maybell cranes her head toward the two of us, her long neck
stretching to near a foot. I motion toward her and lean down to fill Amelia in.
“Maybell is from Tanzaria, a world now lost to the Erobos. She sought refuge a
few hundred years ago and has become an essential member of my team.

“Most of the people here refused to give in to the pull of
carnality the Erobos offer. They tempt, they tame, they torture, in that order.
Remember that. Those assembled here are either the last of their kind, or close
to it.”

Even if I could convert the whole of Earth to Oneiroi,
saving those lost worlds is a staggering feat. A moment of remorse overcomes me
as I gaze over the straggly band of misfits I lead. They do their best to help
me, but the barrier that came from my curse keeps them from fully being able to
engage humans for true recruitment.

Amelia hesitates then steps toward Maybell, who sits
closest to the elevator. Amelia’s already large eyes widen when Maybell stands,
her elongated body resembling stretched taffy, shapely as it is. She’s a good
eight feet, on the short side for a Tanzarian. Fortunately, Maybell is the most
humanized of my team. It takes her all of a couple of seconds to skirt around
her desk to stand in front of Amelia. She shoves a long, yellow arm toward my
awestruck companion.

Her high-pitched voice spills through the office. “You must
be Amelia! I’m Maybell, but you can call me Bell.”

Amelia clears her throat and clasps Maybell’s hand as a
child would an adult. “I-it’s good to meet you, Bell.”

Maybell smirks at me. “I told you she’d adjust quickly.”

I exhale a long breath, slightly annoyed she has taken to
Amelia in a matter of seconds. I’ve known Maybell since she arrived on the
planet, and she still hasn’t given me leave to call her Bell. “Yes, well,
that’s yet to be seen.”

More of my team stand and venture over. Kelsby is the first
to speak up. “Miss Amelia, we’ve been waiting a very long time for you.” His
bulbous body rocks forward, and, for a moment, I’m worried he might not be able
to right himself in time to keep from toppling into us. Luckily, he shifts to
the side then circles back to an upright position. His joints have no stopping
mechanism, which can come in rather handy in a tight spot he should never be
able to fit into, but he’s a bit iffy when it comes to the normal things. He
has four legs that serve to uphold his rotund upper body, but somewhere along
the way of the genetic chain, he was saddled with lanky limbs. Although he has
worked to strengthen them, they don’t quite leave him stable.

Amelia swallows hard and smiles, nodding at Kelsby. “I’d
like to say that I’m flattered, mister, but I still don’t know what I’m supposed
to do for your…” her gaze sweeps the gathering crowd, “um, group.”

Kelsby guffaws, clapping her on the back, sending her
lurching forward. I catch her arm before she can fall to the tiled floor.

This is too much for her. If her heartbeat intensifies any
more, she will pass out.

I hold up my hand and a hush falls over the room. “Thank
you all for your interest in Amelia. She will get to know each of you in turn,
but she is needed elsewhere at the moment. I still haven’t briefed her for
tonight’s mission. If you will excuse us?”

A low hum rattles the air, but most look on with compassion
for Amelia. I’ve not seen the group this excited in ages. I wish I was bringing
a fully trained operative for them to work with, but Amelia is sharp. She will
catch on quickly and before we know it, she will be one of the team, but for
now, she is still fragile enough that I must shield her from the coming
onslaught of camaraderie she will have to endure.

As we trek down the corridor toward my office, Amelia gives
a swift glance over her shoulder. “You could have at least warned me a little
bit,” she says.

I laugh, placing a hand at her waist. “Would you have
believed me if I had?”

She rakes her fingers through her hair. “Good point.”

Shock would be
too tame a word for what’s happening to my mind and body at this moment. There
are so many
creatures
to take in, I have no idea how to even process
some of them. The absolute weird part is I’ve never felt more at home in my
life. Every one of them had a smile on their face, no matter how odd that face
was.

Back there, the
deflated room filled up with hope in seconds. Maybe it’s my clairvoyant side
surfacing, but the jubilation was present in and around everything.

Now, more than
ever, I want to know what’s going on here, and how I can help. Seth may have
brought me into this, but there is so much more to it than him and me. Whatever
relationship we end up with, even if it’s nothing, I want to be here.

I have no idea
who those creatures are or what their story is, but I want to find out. Bell’s
enthusiasm caught me off-guard, but when Kelsby ambled over to me, even though
he was in apparent pain doing so, it tugged on my heart.

Seth hasn’t
said anything else, and when I glance at him his eyes stare vacantly ahead. His
office is set down a long hallway, which lends a separate quality to the room.
The solid door is made of some metal that looks like a mottled mixture of
copper and slate. The flat surface is otherwise unremarkable.

After a moment
of me staring at him, Seth opens the door. Mechanical clangs and whirs compete
with the steady hum of an engine; at least, I think that’s what it is.

“After you,”
Seth says, giving my back a gentle nudge.

Once inside,
several things call my attention. Not another living soul is in this place
brimming with machinery, unless you count the wall of flashing lights a living
entity.

When Seth shuts
the door, it intensifies the noise level to a blurred background to my
turbulent thoughts. I turn to him, my eyebrows pushing together.

“This is your office?”

“No,” he says,
taking my hand. “Come.”

We skirt
between neat rows of machines where another door awaits. This one is made of
the same metal as the one before, but it is embossed with a pastoral scene I
have come to know quite well.

It takes me
moments to locate the beast peeking out from behind the tree. He’s never
answered my question, but I’m hopeful this time he will. I reach out to run my
fingers over the cool surface. “What does this depict? Why does it keep showing
up on stuff?”

Seth stares, eyes
wide as golf balls before he gives me a curt smile. He says nothing until we
are through the doorway and the image is lost to me. No matter how much he
might want to, he cannot hide it from me. It’s imprinted in my memory.

Unlike the room
we just came from, his office is sleek and high-tech with an entire wall of
monitors that show the goings-on in various levels of the building. He takes a
seat behind his minimal desk, while I grab the nearest armchair to sink into.

His jaw
tightens before he speaks. “Do you remember when I told you about the
Netherworld?”

I nod.

“I once lost a
piece of my soul to the place. What you’ve seen is the world I search for…the
place that houses that part of me.”

I suck in a
breath. “The creature?”

He nods.

“Why is the
picture showing up like this?”

“I believe
you’ve discovered a piece of a map, so to speak. It might be related to the
part of the key you found, or it might be a manifestation of your power. I am
unsure.”

“Power?”

“On our journey
here, I was able to dampen your effect by soaking up your energy, but once you
are with the team, Maybell will teach you to do this yourself.”

My thoughts
pick up speed until I can barely distinguish them. “This is so much.”

His blue eyes
soften around the edges. “Time has no meaning here, Amelia. You will learn all
you need to know.”

He’s full of
it. “That’s not true,” I say. “You keep telling me how you’re running out of
time. You need my help because you’re about to lose some guy to the Erobos,
right?”

He gives a slow
shake to his head. “It is most likely too late.”

“Most likely?
Don’t you know where you stand with him?”

Seth smirks at
me. “I’ve been preoccupied lately.”

I throw my head
back and rub my eyes. “I have a feeling this is going to be a long night.”

His head tilts
to the side while he cocks an eyebrow. “You have no idea.”

Leaning
toward him, I smile. “You’d better start filling me in, then. We have people
waiting on us.”

Amelia’s
enthusiasm warms my heart. I had no way of truly knowing how she would react to
my team, but her openness is most welcome.

I lean back in
my chair. “On-the-job training is usually best, anyway. History won’t matter
when you’re in the heat of battle. Trust me.”

She nods,
crossing her legs. “Tell me what I need to know.”

I get caught up
in her movements again. Unlike in the worlds I’ve taken her through to get
here, she’s outfitted in her battle gear, which hugs her form the way I’d like
to. Seeking a distraction, I glance out the window. “We’re after an elusive
target. We thought she was on our side, but we have reason to believe she may
have been corrupted.”

“Who is she?
What’s her story?”

Sitting in
front of her like this is unbearable, so I stand and pace the wall of windows
that overlooks the city below. “She was recruited by one of my brothers ten years
ago. Since she has rare gifts, we all use her talents occasionally. She’s
gifted in the art of telepathy. She can contact operatives ten or more worlds
over and has served as our communications expert until recently, when she was
caught with a known Erobos operative.”

“Did you ask
her about it?”

“I haven’t been
able to find her, which is why I believe she has been compromised. Olivia could
be found if she wanted to be.”

Amelia frowns
at me, running her fingers along her black leather pants. “But you don’t know
for sure. Is there another explanation?”

I look out the
window again, not able to concentrate if I continue to stare at her. “Ah, there
is one other possibility that is much worse.”

“Which is?”

“She has been
possessed.”

Her tone is
incredulous. “Like demons and stuff?”

I face her,
offering no amount of consolation. “In a way. Erobos are not demons in the
biblical sense, but many of the demonic legends come from Erobos interference
in your world. Because they are not able to be physically present on Earth,
they sometimes choose to possess a human body to accomplish a task. This comes
at a great cost to them, but they have increased the use of this tactic
exponentially over the past few years.”

“What does
possession do to the Eorobos?”

“Depending on the
depth of the ability of the host, they burn out quickly. Only those who have a
true talent can maintain a link for prolonged periods of time. Once the
connection is severed, the Erobos is left to the ether to recover. This could
take centuries or even millennia for them to fully regenerate.”

“What’s the
ether?”

“A dark expanse
of unorganized matter, where one is scattered, unable to think or exist in a
composed form. It is the natural realm of the Eros.”

Amelia leans
back against the chair, studying me. I expect her to ask me more about the
Eros, but she says, “Can that happen to you?”

Her concern
lights my soul. “I do not engage in possession for other reasons, but no, if I
chose to use the ability, I am linked to the mortal world, so it doesn’t affect
me as strongly.”

She glances
toward the door. “Does anyone on your team use the
ability
?”

I will not lie
to her. “Only when necessary, but only in short bursts.”

She nods. “So
if Olivia has been possessed, she is human.”

Even though her
question is rhetorical, I nod.

“Who recruited
her?”

“My brother.”

Her eyes widen
in alarm. “You said that already. Ian?”

“Zedekiah,” I
say.

“How many
brothers do you have?”

“Many, but four
remain Oneiroi, including myself.”

“And Zedekiah
doesn’t know where she is?”

“He’s searching
as we speak.”

Her lashes
flutter against her ashen cheeks. “Could I be possessed?”

I want to tell
her I would never allow such a thing, but I cannot be with her at all times.
For her to be useful to me, she has to branch into areas I can no longer reach.
“It is unlikely in your current state, but yes.”

Her foot
bounces up and down like a wayward piston. “Is there a way to prevent
possession or at least overcome it?”

“For true
Oneiroi, yes, but you are a recruit. The only thing I can tell you is to never
embrace the darkness, for once you do, there is no way out but through hell.”

Her foot slams
against the floor as she rises from her chair to pace along the outer wall.
“Sounds great, Seth.” After a moment she stops. “Does that mean I can become
Oneiroi if I want to?”

I swallow
the acid in my throat. “If I claim you as my mate, yes.”

Two words
register in my mind: claim and mate. Dizziness swarms my head, leaving my brain
to fend for itself. I grab the wall for support. A steamy vision takes over my
mind that involves both words equally.

Seth smiles at
me, a slow spreading affair that sets my veins on fire. If I ever allow him to
claim me, he will consume me to dust, but I might just enjoy the burn.

“Good to know,”
I say, trying to recover my composure. “So Zedekiah has not converted Olivia
then?”

“Their
relationship is still young.”

“She’s been
with him for ten years,” I say. An offence for a woman I’ve never met, who
might just be my enemy now, spreads through me. “Those are the only two
possibilities for her? After so long, why hasn’t your brother committed to the
relationship?”

Seth walks to
me and clasps my shoulders. “Ten years is nothing to an immortal. We are all
wary because of the woman that cursed me. She betrayed us all before she was
brought here. You needn’t worry, Amelia. I will do everything in my power to
protect you.”