Dreams Awakened

Chapter 6

CHANGES HAVE BEEN MADE IN THE STORY AND LAYTON'S NAME IS NOW CADE. JUST A HEADS UP.

Jason landed in Washington DC and walked up to the black Benz SUV awaiting him. He hopped in the vehicle and the driver took off. Nick’s men were in place. They knew the location thanks to a few spies in place with the keepers. Rumors were buzzing around about the attack, why it happened, and who was removed from Lucian’s grasp. Jason had to nip this in the bud and quickly.

Reaching the destination he walked up to Nick, fully clad in his extraction gear and asked one last time if this was absolutely the correct place. Nick was completely sure, so he said. That’s when Jason gave the approval for attack and attack they did. A huge dome of glass and metal was nestled in the middle of surrounding Coast Redwood trees literally hiding the dome from the world and satellite imaging. This had to be the place.

His men attacked from all sides of the dome including the top breaking through the glass and positioning themselves throughout the place. The dome was barren. Empty. The entire place had nothing in it. Not a computer, desk, not a single speck of dust. The men stood looking around confused and at a loss of what to do. Jason stormed in and grabbed Nick by the collar, “What. The. FUCK?” Nick stammered, he had no idea. He had on great authority this was the place, and yet it was obvious this was clearly not it. Jason began pacing, “Move out!” and his men kicked into gear and began packing up. Jason knew he couldn’t report back yet, otherwise he’d be dead.

…

 “Well, are you going to answer me or are you going to just stare at me?!” Everyone in the kitchen was silent and hadn’t spoken a word since Hayden said the word Lilith. Mole stepped forward his fingers on both hands touching together again, a sure sign of social anxiety. “If I may hmm…” All eyes snapped to Mole including Layla’s her brows raised.

“Yes, please,” Layla told him. He continued fidgeting his fingers and cleared his throat, which actually sounded more of a hackle. “Well, Lilith is, was, the first wife of Adam. In Genesis 1: 26-27 it is said that God created man and woman simultaneously in his divine image. Then in Genesis 2 it is said that God created Adam, then places him in the Garden of Eden. From there he created animals of the sky and sea to see if any were suitable partners, though Adam was happy with none. God placed Adam in a deep slumber, used his rib and created woman. It was then Adam was satisfied seeing that Even was of himself.”

Layla’s eyes were wide still waiting, but there had been a silence. “You’ve still explained nothing Mole. My mom was named after Adam’s so called first wife, which I never heard anything about by the way, so how do you know my mom? Where is she? Why did she give me up? This little story of yours explaining the beginning of time has literally nothing to do with answering my thousand questions. In fact, all I have now are more.” To say that there was deafening silence does not even describe what happened after her questions spewed out of her mouth.

Mole nervously laughed the quietest laugh Layla had ever herd. “No, no my dear. Lilith, she IS your mother. The same one I’m telling you about, Adam’s first wife. And you, my dear, are her daughter. Well their daughter, I think. I’m not really sure of the father to be honest as there’s no record of it but obviously there’s a chance.”

Layla stared at Mole, looked around the room at all the new faces, and then laughed the biggest laugh that had ever come out of her. Belly hurting, face scrunched, tears streaming down her face type of laugh. She wasn’t sure if the laugh was because she actually thought it funny, or the seriousness of their faces, or because some part of her thought maybe the story could be true. When she was finally able to calm herself, Cade walked up to her and grabbed her face, “I’m afraid Lay, that we are being honest. We do think you’re her daughter. Before you go knocking everything we’re about to say, we’d like for you to just hear the story as a whole. You can make your own assessment from what we say. Do you think you can do that?”

Layla stood up, “Guys, I’m going to be honest. I think that you believe what you say is true, and who am I to dispute or argue your beliefs? But right now, all I want is to take a hot shower and get some rest. I don’t really know how long Lucian had me, but I do know that Rat licked my face and I kind of feel like I might catch I don’t know, herpes or something from it. I’m exhausted and I do want to know what you think, but I’ve lost a lot of blood and my eyes burn. I just need a few hours to gather myself. Can I do that?” Hayden’s fists were balled up his albino skin turning the slightest hint of pink. She wasn’t sure what she said to make him that angry, though he always seemed to be angry at her. Cade smirked in his devilishly cute way and walked up to her grabbing her hand, “I’ll lead the way my queen.”

Layla raised one eyebrow at him. Though she was very attracted to him, one on one contact wasn’t exactly her thing. She removed her hand from his; “I think you can get me there without touching me, yes?” Cade looked at her in confusion and that’s when Hayden walked around the counter, “I’ll bring her,” he huffed and walked away. Cade stood there face still immobile so Layla smiled at the group and followed Hayden.

Three flights of stairs later finally there were the living quarters. Layla was unsure if they were still underground or what, but she was just too exhausted to care. Hayden opened a door and led her inside. It was a plain room, cream walls, a bed and some furniture, not that she needed anything, as she literally had nothing with her. Hayden brought her to the bathroom where a set of clean pajamas lay with a plush towel.

“Soap and everything is in the shower, we had to buy these clothes and we weren’t exactly sure what size you were so I hope they fit ok.” Layla smiled up at him, “I’m sure they’ll be fine. Thank you.”

Hayden walked out of the room and stopped before closing the door, “Hey, listen, I’ll be right next door if you need anything ok? I know you’re confused and you need to sort things out for yourself. I just wanted you to know that I’d be right there.” Layla found herself smiling again, oddly attracted to him as much as his brother, but in very different ways. “Thanks Hayden, it’s nice to know I have someone to go to if I need anything.” He nodded his head and walked out of the door.

Her shower was amazing. Nothing special, no bubbles or candles, but it was hot and fresh. She scrubbed at least three layers of skin off of herself. Her pj’s definitely did not fit. The pants were skintight as was the tank top. If she guessed, since Cade had been the only one that actually got a glimpse of her, she was pretty sure his description of her is how the clothes were purchased.

She sat on the bed and recapped everything she knew thus far. So much was still unanswered; at the end of it she was just as frustrated. She stared at the ceiling for hours until finally giving in and looking at the clock. It was past 2AM and yet she hadn’t fallen asleep. She couldn’t she knew there would be night terrors. She paced the room for at least another hour before she finally decided to go to the kitchen. She ended up not even touching her food that night and figured the next best thing to sleep, was food.

She tip-toed out of her room, not wanting to wake anyone and closed her door. When she turned right she tripped over something and fell not only on top of it, but face down on the floor. She screeched and a flashlight turned out immediately. She turned her face towards the object and saw Cade’s snarky smirk looking down, her butt practically in his face. “What the!” she scrambled up as did he.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. I just, I don’t know. You told us how you dreamed of him every night and I was afraid that maybe you’d have another dream tonight. I just wanted to be close in case I needed to wake you up. Not to be creepy stalker or anything.” Cade’s face was down looking at the floor and Layla smiled, “Thank you. That’s incredibly sweet, but I could have handled it.”

“Yea, I know. I just wanted to help out.” He looked at her, his eyes full of an intensity she hadn’t seen before. “Care to walk me to the kitchen?” she asked him. He smiled, “I’d love to.” And he led the way making sure he didn’t lay a finger on her.

**Dedicated to natsaninja for encouraging me not to give up. Though this story still needs TONS of work, at least I'm writing again. (: