Niklosi's Nightmare (First Wave Book 10) (23 page)

“Is there other food sources?
Because I don’t think there’s enough food in here to make it through dinner,”
Nik asked as he easily hefted the basket up and down.

“There’s fruit, wild onions,
potatoes, and other edibles down here that grow naturally. But nothing you’d
sustain yourself on unless you had to,” BJ explained, unsure how long he
expected them to stay down here.

Nik didn’t say anything and only
nodded his head. He felt confident that Bess would have food covered in some
way.

Bess has to know I wanted more than
just a day and night with BJ,
Nik thought, hoping he was right.

The cave opened up into the large
cavern they’d been in that last time, and Nik reached his hand back to help BJ
down the trail that led to the bottom. He was thrilled when she didn’t hesitate
to take his hand.

When they finally reached the
bottom, BJ moved to the pair of horses standing at the trail, their reins dragging
the ground as they chewed lazily on the lush grass.

Nik walked around the horses
curiously, noting the bulging saddlebags.

“Your mom packed us pretty well for
something,” he said as BJ moved to the saddlebags.

He watched a safe distance from the
large animals while BJ rummaged through the bags.

“Looks like non-perishable foods.
Which means the basket is probably fresh stuff for the trip there,” BJ said as
she grinned at him. “Let’s get the basket secured.”

Nik looked at the large animals and
BJ’s outstretched hand, and he sucked up his reticence and walked over to her.

“Where should I secure it?” he
asked.

“Here,” BJ told him as she held up
a few straps on the side of the dark brown horse. “She’s the biggest one, so
you’ll ride her.”

Nik just nodded and began securing
the basket to the horse with the straps. When he was done, he looked down at
BJ.

“OK, show me how to drive it.”

BJ just laughed at him.

“Steer her. You want to steer her.
But Star here doesn’t really need steering. I’ll take the lead with Moon, and
she’ll follow him,” BJ suggested. “We’ll go over basics along the way so you
get a feel for riding.”

“Sounds good. How do I mount it?”
Nik asked, trying to figure it out as he stared at the horse.

“Watch me,” BJ said, then put her
foot in the stirrup and swung her leg over the saddle.

Looks easy,
Nik
thought with a nod.

He grabbed the pommel of the
saddle, didn’t account for the animal moving on him as he lifted his leg, and
he ended up on his ass on the ground.

BJ smothered her grin as she
dismounted and held onto Star to keep her from moving.

“Let’s try this again. I’ll keep
her from moving this time,” BJ said, her eyes daring him to try it again.

Nik stood, dusted off his ass, and
grabbed the pommel tightly before launching himself into the saddle. He grinned
broadly as he sat atop the horse and admired the view for a moment before he
looked down at BJ.

“This is kind of cool.”

“It’s a lot of fun when you get
used to it. Here are the reins,” BJ said as she held them up to him. “Keep them
loose in your hands. A slight tug left and Star goes left, slight tug right . .
. you get the idea.”

BJ launched herself back into the
saddle and easily turned Moon to take the lead. She turned back to Nik.

“You going to be OK?” she asked.

Nik was amazed at the way the
sunlight streaming down through the cavern highlighted her beautiful face.

“I’m more than OK,” Nik admitted.

*****

Kyle watched dispassionately as the
miles stretched between them and Baker’s Creek. It wasn’t until his men began
complaining about food before he ordered them to exit the highway. He wasn’t
sure why they’d bothered since none of them ate much and had spent the entire
meal picking at their food in silence.

He stood, walked over to the
cashier to pay the bill, and when he opened his wallet, he saw a small piece of
paper flutter to the floor. He handed the girl his credit card as he stooped to
pick up the paper.

Kyle signed the receipt the young
woman handed him and unfolded the piece of paper he didn’t recall putting in
his wallet.

We know you’re one of us. We can
help you find who you’re looking for. Call the number you find on your cell phone
at 6 p.m.

Kyle looked around the restaurant, trying
to see if he could find who’d left him the note. When he saw his men come
towards him, he quickly shoved the note into his pants pocket.

“We’re going to get loaded,” Greg
said.

“I’m hitting the head; I’ll be out
in a minute,” Kyle assured the captain before moving towards the bathroom.

He shut the door behind him and
quickly locked it. Heading over to the sink, his shoulders slumped as he put
his hands on either side of the sink.

Kyle looked into the dull mirror
and stared into his reflection for a moment before he turned on the cold water
and splashed his face. He dried himself with a wad of paper towels and sighed
as he looked at himself again.

Knowing he didn’t have much time
before his men were pounding on the door, he reached into the side pocket of
his pants and pulled out a shatter proof black case. He opened it, set it on
the side of the sink, and began to take the first contact out of his eyes.

He refused to pay too close
attention to the color until they were both removed. When they were both
finally out, he stared at himself again and had to cover his mouth to stifle
his gasp.

What the hell am I going to do now?
he
thought, shaking his head.

Kyle stared at the once small
pinpricks of blue that marred his normally brown eyes and couldn’t believe the
swirling mass they had become overnight.

He gripped the edges of the sink
and struggled to control the panic that surged through him. He trembled as he
breathed deeply, centering himself the way he’d been taught as a child until he
could calmly look into the swirling blue masses in his eyes.

He carefully pulled a contact out
of the black case and placed it into his eye, then did the other one before he
stared back into his face. He moved his head around at different angles making
sure that no sign of the swirls could be see through the contacts.

He jumped at the knock on the door.

“Sir, we’re ready to head out. Just
waiting on you,” Greg called from the other side of the door.

“I’ll be out in a minute,” Kyle replied.

He waited until he heard Greg’s
footsteps receding from the door before he allowed his rage to take over and
put his fist through the mirror where his eyes had been staring back at him. He
ignored the shattered mirror and grabbed a few paper towels to stop the blood
from his knuckles and cursed his own stupidity.

He looked down at the cuts on his
knuckles, centered his energy, and watched as the open wounds began to close.
Moments later when there was no sign of an injury, he washed the remaining
blood off of his hands and left the bathroom.

Without looking back at the store,
he mentally left the man in mirror there and got into the passenger seat of the
lead vehicle beside Greg.

“Let’s go home,” he ordered as he
put on his sun glasses and stared out of the window.

“What are we going to put in the
report, sir?” Greg asked.

“That the prisoners escaped before
we got there,” Kyle replied.

“You’re not going to mention
anything else?” Greg asked, thinking of the visions and the monsters loose in
Baker’s Creek.

“Would you?” Kyle countered.

“Fuck no, sir,” Greg admitted.

Kyle turned back to look out the
window and counted off the hours in his mind. He was determined to make sure he
was alone and able to talk privately at 6 p.m., when he intended to make a
phone call he hoped would end the nightmare his life had become almost a decade
ago.

*****

Traze sat beside Grai on the
transport, a small, secretive smile on his face.

“You ever going to tell me what
happened? What she showed you?” Grai asked.

Traze chuckled and leaned his head
back in the seat and closed his eyes.

“One day I will have a story to
tell, but right now my book is still being written; the middle and the ending
are unfinished,” Traze said then turned to look at Grai. “Let me get through
the first few chapters before I reveal the end.”

“The end?” Grai asked worriedly.

“Every end has a beginning,” Traze
said cryptically before he drifted off into an exhausted sleep.

Grai leaned back with a frustrated
sigh, wishing he knew what had wrought the change in his brother, while at the
same time being grateful for those same changes. Somehow he knew things were
going to change. Whether it was for the better or not, he didn’t know, but he
was damn sure hoping they’d catch a break.

Chapter
Twenty-Two

Nik and BJ reached the place where
the cottage was supposed to be and looked around the area in confusion. They
expected there to be something that would block the cottage from view, but
there was nothing there at all, no tree, shrubs or even vines.

BJ huffed in frustration and dismounted
her horse while Nik did the same. After the half dozen stops they’d made
getting there, he was getting better at handling the horse and was able to get
off the beast without landing on his ass.

Nik stood beside BJ and looked
around for a trail or something that they may have missed.

“It’s supposed to be right here.
See on the map?” BJ asked, showing Nik the piece of paper. “It says that it’s
between the stream and the heart-shaped rock.”

Nik could clearly see the heart-shaped
rock on one side of them and a small stream on the other. According to the map,
they were in the right spot. Nik shook his head, completely confused.

“I don’t get it. Maybe you need to
do something,” Nik suggested.

“What do you think I’m supposed to
do?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“I don’t know . . . something
witchy maybe?” Nik asked, shrugging his shoulders in confusion.

“Wit . . . I can’t believe you just
said that!” BJ said with a laugh as she slapped at his shoulder. “You’re an ass.
You know that?”

“Yes, I do know. I didn’t mean
anything by it though! Honestly, I wasn’t sure if you could wave your hand or
something and make it appear,” he replied, trying to defend his stupidity.

“I don’t have power like that,” BJ
said with a grin. “I wish I did, but you might be on to something.”

BJ moved to stand back a few feet
from the exact spot the cottage should be according to the map. She shoved the
map in her pocket, held both hands up in front of her, and began to mumble
something that Nik couldn’t understand.

He was getting ready to ask what
she was saying when he sucked in a gasp as a cottage popped in front of them.

“What the fuck . . .” Nik whispered
as he took a step back.

BJ turned to him with a brilliant
smile that sucked the breath right out of him.

“It was hidden! We just had to ask
that it be revealed,” BJ said in excitement before she ran inside.

Nik stood outside for a moment,
catching his breath as he studied the small but cozy-looking cabin. Like Bess’s
house, it appeared to be made almost completely out of living elements, and he
shook off the shiver that skittered up his spine at the thought of sleeping
inside it.

She’s worth it,
he
thought, remembering her beautiful smile.

He strode to the partially opened
door and stepped inside. He took one look around before he went back outside to
examine the outside of the cottage again. This time he walked around the entire
cottage before he stepped back inside.

“There’s no fucking way . . .” he
whispered before looking around franticly. “BJ? BJ, where are you?”

Nik looked around the massive
interior of the cottage and couldn’t see BJ anywhere. Unsure which way to go to
try and find her, he was getting ready to guess when BJ appeared in a hallway
and waved to him.

“What the fuck is this?” Nik asked
as he looked around the mansion-like interior he’d stepped into.

BJ laughed, the sound echoing down
the pink marble hallway.

“I have no idea! This is incredible
isn’t it? The queen had one hell of an idea of a sanctuary!” BJ said as she ran
down the hallway towards him.

“Where the hell are we?” Nik
whispered as BJ finally reached him.

“Honestly? I don’t know,” BJ
admitted.

Nik walked over to the wall and
touched it just to make sure it was real.

“How is this possible?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Come here, let me
show you this,” BJ said as she tugged him through the hallway she’d come down
only moments earlier.

“Why is it so big?” Nik asked as
they passed a bedroom with the largest bed he’d ever seen.

“I don’t know that either,” BJ said
with a shrug. “The only thing I can think of is that the queen wanted to make
sure that she had enough room to move around.”

Nik shot her a doubtful look, and
BJ laughed.

“They’re really tall and need more
room than most to even pace!” BJ suggested then pointed at the door at the end
of the hallway. “Check this out.”

Curiosity got the best of him and
Nik opened the door and grinned as he shook his head and stepped outside to
stand only feet from the creek outside the cottage. BJ stepped up beside him
and nodded her head towards the front door.

“It’s a hell of a short cut back to
the front,” BJ said then ran to the front door of the cottage.

Nik took off after her and they
both skidded to a stop in the enormous front hallway of cottage.

“That’s seriously fucked up,” Nik
whispered with a grin.

BJ shook her head in amazement.

“I have to admit, it’s really cool.
A little creepy, but cool.”

Nik pulled her close and looked
around the interior.

“What do you say we go exploring
and figure this place out? Or at least get our bearings,” Nik suggested, hoping
the tour would ease their trepidation about the unusual place.

“It’s like the outside is in the
cavern, but the inside is in another realm,” BJ whispered.

“Do you think something like that
is possible?” Nik asked.

BJ gestured to the immense interior
of the cottage.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
she teased.

Nik laughed and nodded.

“OK, I get it. But why would your
mom send us here?”

That had BJ stumped. She was
tempted to ask her mom but was afraid to ruin the moment with Nik and the
chance to discover it together.

“Maybe she wanted to keep us busy
exploring?” BJ suggested with a shrug.

“That I can believe. So let’s get
started.”

Nik tugged BJ gently into a room
right off the entrance, which turned out to be a dining room.

It took more than an hour for them
to fully inspect each room in the cottage’s palatial interior. They ended the
tour in one of the first rooms they visited and collapsed on one of the many
sprawling couches.

“I’m starving, and we need to take
care of the horses,” Nik stated before he stood again. “You stay there, and
I’ll get the horses done and bring in the rest of the basket your mom gave us.”

“No, I’ll help. Pull me up,” BJ
said and held her hand out to Nik.

Nik gently took her hand and pulled
her to her feet but didn’t stop pulling until she was close enough for him to
crush her against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her there
and smiled when he felt her hands slide around his waist.

“You know the one thing I noticed
when we were looking around is that there’s only one bed,” Nik whispered as his
face descended towards hers.

BJ turned a becoming pink, and her
hazel eyes held his as she tilted her lips towards him.

“It
is
a mating cottage. I
doubt separate rooms were even considered,” she whispered as her eyes closed
and his lips came closer.

Nik felt her acceptance, and he
took the opportunity to take her lips in a searing kiss of possession. The heat
exploded between them, and Nik took advantage of BJ’s gasp of surprise to
plunge his tongue into her mouth.

It was Nik’s turn to be surprised
when BJ’s tongue began to duel erotically with his, giving as good as she got
until they were both breathless. She pulled away and looked up into his eyes.
As much as she wanted to continue, she knew they needed to care for the horses
before they forgot about them completely.

Without a word, she pulled him out
of the room and down the hall to the front door. Nik quickened his step to get
to the door first and opened it for her. When they both stepped outside, they
were both taken aback by what they saw.

A small barn had appeared, and
inside the horses were munching on fresh hay, the saddles and reins already
removed and hanging neatly. The basket of food was on the ground right in front
them.

Nik raised his brows in question at
BJ, but she just shook her head and shrugged.

“This is way outside of anything I
know of,” BJ admitted. “I’ve never seen this kind of power before. It’s
definitely above our pay grade.”

Nik just nodded, grabbed the
basket, and pulled her back inside the cottage. He shut the door behind them
and led her back into the living room. It was decked out in cushiony couches
and chairs in all patterns and colors. Pillows in all sizes were thrown
haphazardly on the different couches, and a massive TV took up the center of
the room.

Nik led BJ to the couch they’d
kissed in front of, and he opened up the basket to pull out the leftovers from
lunch. He wasn’t all that surprised to find that the leftovers had somehow been
replaced with all new food.

He moved a table from the other
side of the room and set it in front of BJ before piling it with the food from
the basket. When he was done, he sat down beside her and grinned at her
surprised expression.

“You’ve only seen the asshole side
of me-which is my own fault, but I’m really a decent guy. Most of the time,”
Nik admitted with a blush.

BJ snorted and leaned forward to
get a sandwich.

“I’m not surprised you’re a decent
guy; I’m surprised at how well you’re handling this. I grew up around what most
would consider magic and the powers of the elders, but magically replenishing
food, interiors in other realms . . . it’s a bit much. Why are you so calm
about it?” BJ asked, curious what his thoughts were on the oddness around them.

Nik finished chewing the food in
his mouth and shrugged.

“What’s not to like? We have
everything we need; there’s no military, no Traze or Bess, no battles to fight,
no perps to arrest. There’s no mission to prepare for or training to do. Stop
and listen. Do you hear that?” he asked.

BJ cocked her head to try and hear
what he was talking about, but she didn’t hear anything.

“No. What do you hear?”

“Nothing!” Nik said with a laugh.
“That’s the point! It’s peaceful. The kitchen is stocked, and we’ve nothing to
do but be together and get to know one another. It’s perfect.”

BJ’s heart melted at his words, and
she nodded her head in agreement.

“You’re right. It’s perfect,” she
whispered then leaned up to kiss his cheek.

Nik turned his head at the last
minute and took her lips in another heated kiss. When he felt her relax into
him, he pulled back, not wanting to push her too far too fast.

BJ sighed in disappointment that
he’d stopped.

“You need to eat,” he whispered as
he handed her a bunch of grapes.

BJ popped a grape in her mouth,
glad for the distraction as she tried to figure out why Nik hadn’t pressed his
advantage. She’d been more than willing to explore every inch of him.

“What’s your favorite color?”

BJ nearly choked on the grape she’d
just eaten as she laughed at him. She saw his slight wince, and it finally hit
her what he was doing-he was trying to get to know her. Her heart melted at how
sweet he was being, and she decided to play along while they ate. He was right-she
was starving.

“It’s blue. What’s yours?” she
asked, surprising him.

“Stanafolian. Which is a Valendran
word for a color that’s a mix of purple and blue,” Nik explained.

“You couldn’t just pick blue or
purple? You had to be weird?” she teased and threw a grape at him.

Nik easily caught the grape and
tossed it into his mouth.

“I didn’t want to lie,” he said
with a shrug. “What movies?”

“Anything with action. Cop movies,
of course. You?” BJ grabbed the bottle of wine from the basket and handed it to
Nik to open.

“Don’t laugh,” Nik said as he
popped the cork and handed the bottle back to her. “I like romantic comedies.”

BJ burst out laughing until she
realized he was serious.

“I like some of them too,” she
admitted, although she could only count three in her mind.

Nik didn’t look convinced at all
and BJ laughed again.

“OK, this is getting painful. Let
me tell you about myself. My name is Bessemiah Sue Markson. I’m called BJ
because my name is a combination of both of my parents, Bess and Jeremiah,” she
said with a grin. I grew up surrounded by all this craziness with my twin
brother. It was a wonderful childhood. My father was killed in an accident when
we were teens.”

“I don’t mean to interrupt, but why
didn’t the demigods intervene?” Nik asked.