31: The Dream Realm

My heart races and nothing happens. “I think I need a drink before this.” I mutter into the room as I break away from him. The flashbacks to the last time I entered the dream realm for Tessa ‘dream’ didn’t go well. And it’s bound to not go well again.

“You can have a drink afterwards.” Gabriel says meeting my eyes.

“Two.”

“How ever many you want or should I say how ever many you can handle.” He eyeballs with a mischievous smile silently daring me to drink to the point of intoxication.
And who knows, after this I just might.

“Stop stalling.” He says with a sternness that demands attention. He watches me physically shake the terror off myself. “You can do this. You have me this time.” He holds out his hands, palms up and I immediately put mine in his pretending to be brave and strong.

“Just don’t let go.” My voice gives away my fear.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He winks at me, but it doesn’t keep my heart from nearly punching itself out of my ribcage.

Small little butterflies float in my stomach as I close my eyes. I’m not sure if it's from closing my eyes on Gabriel or having to close my eyes to enter the dream realm.
I whisper the small incantation once again.

*Not awake nor asleep,
Your dreams are mine to take.
In the world of possibilities,
Unspeakables lie in wait.*

I can feel the world slip away. Even though I can still feel my butt on the hard floor, still feel Gabriel’s cold hands in mine, I’m sucked into my head leaving it all behind.

*I stand motionless in the middle of the street. A havoc ridden, disaster filled street. The moon is high in the sky, but it’s bright glow doesn’t penetrate the thick fog of smoke from several fires that burn throughout the city. Buildings, cars, trashcans, anything and almost everything. I choke on it and with a phantom squeeze to my hands, I know that my physical body coughed as well.

I’m startled from behind by a family that rushes past me. The small child that the mother heaves beside her nearly knocks into me. I take a longer, deeper look down the street and notice several clusters of people, not demizens, but humans frantically running down the street, backpacks and duffle bags heaved over their shoulders. I can barely hear their hushed whispers of ‘stay quiet’ on their lips. But I know that their escape is futile.

No one will be able to just leave town. Everyone will either die or become a slave to the newly risen top predator of the food chain. Vampires.

My joints lock up and my legs seem to be stuck in place as if they know what lies ahead. Forcing through the ache, I cautiously take step after step down the street. It quickly is becoming deserted. The initial prey thinning out leaving everyone that’s caught out easy prey, fought over prey.

Just as I pass by an alleyway, I hear a scream. I pause smack dab in the middle of the entryway and stare down the alley. Shadows, but distinctive shadows. Hands thrashing, feet kicking and then one shadow dragging the other out of view. The screams of fight die down into a gurgling groan. Then silence. My own heart races with panic. I’m not human, but will I be spared? I know this answer, and it’s no.

I force myself to continue down the street. It’s only after witnessing someone being killed that I notice the blood splatter on the sidewalk, the kicked in doors, the lost single shoes that are scattered every few blocks. Death, so much death. So much destruction.

All because vampires want to have a free for all. No more hiding in the shadows, hunting down their food. No more keeping up the ruse of being elegant, beautiful creatures. The monsters want out and everyone is paying the price.

I have no idea where I’m going, my feet just keep stumbling down the debri ridden pavement. Tessa has to be here somewhere, but where? Where are the clues? I scour the streets, the remaining buildings searching for something, some connection that will lead me to her.

And then I feel it, a cool breeze that ruffles my hair and a warm breath on my neck. “Hello little witch.” he says breathily before his mouth latches onto my neck.

The pierce of his fangs tears a scream from my lungs. I thrash and scream and fight and cry. And my physical body in Phillip’s manor thrashes and screams and fights and cries. The phantom hold of Gabriel’s hands disappears and the ground beneath me instantly disappears.

With my anchor is gone and I freefall into the pitch black depths of the dream realm.

It seems like I fall for hours, but it’s merely seconds. I crash down on rough blacktop and with a quick glance, I realise it’s the same street. I pick myself up with a groan, my hands quickly racking over my neck. No bite, but my knees and palms are scraped up from the fall.

It’s earlier than my last encounter, the sun not quite fully set. Several more humans are out and about, the destruction hasn’t occurred yet. It’s the calm before the storm. The anticipation squeezes my chest and panic rises within me. Shit.

Except something is different in this world. Posters and billboards with Phillip’s face on them line the streets, right alongside those are opposing posters and billboards that spread vampire hate.

So Phillip already announced the existence of vampires and it’s at a crossroads. And it’s with that realization that everything comes to stand still as one scream fills the streets, soon another joins in and then another and another. Some people scatter to it curious or stupid enough to think they can help while others run away from it.

I’m rooted in place as I watch in horror the swarm of vampires flood out of side streets converging together, overtaking everything and everyone. So, this is how it happens. Forcing the rule of vampires upon everyone. A free for all at dusk. Apparently, Gabriel isn’t the only half breed that Phillip has. These halflings pave the way of destruction for the true vultures that will slither out once the sun is fully set.

The new King of the World will show his face and demand affection and loyalty of whoever is alive or dragged to his feet. Those that made those opposing billboards will not forget the day that they lost.

There’s a faint whisper in the breeze of my name. It repeats itself trying to get my attention, trying to break through my fear that paralyzes me. Gabriel. ‘Find Tessa, Hazel. Find her.’

It takes everything I have to stand in the middle of the street and relax, to clear my mind of all horrific thoughts. I feel the gush of wind rush past me as bodies run frantically down the street, several of those bodies slam into me.

Everything sounds so close, so crisp. Against better judgement I open my eyes and find myself in the middle of a crowd. A crowd losing its battle. Bodies piled atop bodies. Vampires with blood smeared faces, learing gazes and lurching stances. Monsters. Predators.

One grabs me and a scream rips out of my mouth in both realms. My hands swing and punch, fighting with all my might to escape and I do, but not not unscathed. A deep gash in my forearm gushes blood, but I don’t have time to address it as I run with the current of the other fleeing bodies.

I have to get out. I have to get out, now. I think of home. I think of my physical body and demand to go back. I will it with all my might, but no matter how hard I want it, I’m still here in the middle of the war between vampires and humans. Gabriel, my anchor gone. I kinda prefer the aftermath instead. All the damage already done. All the death mostly over with.

I break away from the crowd unsure if it’s the best idea. It only takes a second to realize I’m in the alleyway that I saw in my previous visit. The alleyway I watched someone get murdered in. I spin around to leave, but come short as I find my way out blocked.

A different vampire stands before me. Blood on his shirt, blood smeared on his face, blood staining his hands. Vampires are such messy eaters. How many throats has he ripped through already?

He launches at me without warning and I swat him away. My weak, feeble body is no match for his pure strength. A scream unwillingly rips through my mouth as I struggle to break away from him. But his hands aren’t the only hands that I feel on me.

Gabriel’s phantom grasp digs into my skin pinning me in place. Took him long enough to find me. The bloody vampire is completely unaware of the sudden change in my body. A soft, repetitive, no, tumbles out from my numb lips.

Gabriel’s whispered voice is in my ear again. “Find Tessa, Hazel. Find her.”

I’m not sure how it happens, but I drop into the black depths of the dream realm yet again, except this time my spirling descent is more controlled with Gabriel’s strength keeping me grounded.

I fall into a new location, a familiar location. My personal room at Mystic Moon. I land with a harsh thump on the floor, it rattles several shelves and takes me a second to regain my breath that’s been knocked out of me.

The shop is dark and empty...well, almost empty. “Jezmin?” I stare dumbfoundedly at her as she lingers just on the other side of the threshold. She’s more solid, more alive.

“You’re meddling in something that should not be.” She looks at me with glassy eyes.

“What-how are you here? Phillip, is this about Phillip’s plans?”

She turns her back on me and I rush to the door to catch her, but she moves so fast that she’s already by the basement door, she looks at me for a fraction of a second before she disappears inside. I debate about following her, but there’s this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach that says don’t.

I turn back to the inside of my room. It’s exactly like in the physical realm. Small and tidy, the crystal ball perfectly placed in the center of the table. My eyes skim over the ball and then jolt back to it. The clear glass has a swirl of black smoke trapped inside. Slowly with deliberate steps, I approach the table, but before I reach I come close enough to lean over the edge, the ball is mysteriously knocked off its stand. I barely catch it before it crashes onto the ground.

The black smoke barely swirling inside. Just as fast as it appeared, it disappears revealing the image of a house. The immaculate detail of the image is as if I were there on the green lawn with the perfectly paved driveway and delicate shrubs that line the front porch. The bright white shutters stand out against the dark gray siding. There’s no car in the drive, but the address beams at me on the side of the mailbox. 619 Lamont Street.

The image disappears and I’m more confused than I was before. What’s a house and address going to do for me if I have no idea where that house is. I place the ball back on the stand, my eyes skimming the room. There has to be something I’m missing.

And that’s when I notice it. A rolled up paper unwound from it’s binding on the floor. It had been rolled up and stacked with a pile of other old documentation that Gretchen stored in here years ago, but now it’s open and out of the stack.

My fingers carefully pick it up and flatten it out on the tabletop. It’s a map of the states except it doesn’t look like the map we all know. This is divided into the lands of ancient magic. There isn’t the West and East coast or the South and Midwest. There’s thirty five different regions of magic. The most popular are the Mainland, the Heartland and the Old Country. The biggest and most powerful, each have geographical anomalies that produce magic that evoked folklore and myths among humans over the years.

As I skim the map looking for something the crystal ball knocks from its base again and rolls across the table. I jolt back with surprise, but ready to catch it. I wait, but it suddenly comes to an abrupt stop. The glass magnifies a small town in the southern gulf as I peer down on it. The Old Country. And then it clicks. That’s where Tessa is.*

With that thought everything fades away and I’m snapped back into my body, sitting on the floor holding hands with a petrified Gabriel. I meet his concerned gaze. “I know where she is.” I mutter.