Daughter of Stars and Nightmares (The Eternal Bond Saga book 1)

Awakening

Julia had only been in Paris for two days, but she knew her presence had kicked open Pandora's Box and the horrifying contents were seeping into her mind. For any other, tonight would've been a perfect night to enjoy the tranquillity of Paris with a leisurely stroll. Yet the city's peaceful allure was completely lost on Julia.

Sweat plastered her cotton shirt to her ashen skin as she trudged along the deserted quayside. A humid breeze drifted up from the river Seine and set her teeth chattering. Julia rubbed her arms, trying to coax the warmth back into her clammy skin.

Clouds passed before the moon, dimming its pearl-coloured light, casting her into the darkest shadows of the night. Julia took absolutely no notice and kept walking; blinded by the dream that coiled about her, refusing to let go.

The anguished cries of a man and a woman, calling to one another, tore through her head. Each harrowing screech ricocheted against Julia's skull until pain reverberated through her quaking body and a groan slipped past her lips on the tail of a ragged breath. She couldn't discern a single word of the garbled shouts, but the desperate longing in their tones was unmistakable.

To escape sleep Julia had fled the confines of her room, but she now found herself trapped by this waking nightmare, powerless to break free. Frustration pooled in her belly, and Julia's slender fingers snaked through her tawny locks. She fisted them in her hair until the knuckles whitened.

The visions were nothing new for Julia. She'd been having the same dreams since early childhood, and they weren't something she'd ever talked about ̶ not even with her best friends.

Dreams were a serious affair in the magical world, and hers were not something any supernatural being would ever admit to experiencing. That was because of one indisputable fact: when supernatural beings died, their souls passed into Hades. Reincarnation was not only said to be impossible, but forbidden. Any attempt to bring a soul back from the other side was punishable by death.

Her instincts told her that what plagued her were not dreams, but memories. They were more real than any mere dream. She knew the people within them, even though she could never recall their faces ̶ knew them even better than her family or friends. It violated everything taught to her, and the implications petrified her.

Julia staggered away from edge of the quayside as the cacophony of wailing escalated. The couple's cries snaked down Julia's throat; their soul-crushing sadness choking her. Her legs buckled, and she hit the uneven cobblestone pavement with a sickening thud.

As the litany of screams sank into the recesses of her mind, she lay on top of the cool stones and gulped down air. Her vacant eyes gazed at the Port Montebello sign above her. How much more can I take of this before it drives me insane? How much more, when every time it ends, it only begins again?

A river of fire crackled through Julia until she forced herself to her feet, trying to flee it, to wake. She whimpered, squeezed her eyes shut, and a tremor of grief stirred the turmoil bubbling in the pit of her stomach. She tried to fight it back, but holding the agony at bay proved to be a Herculean task. All she could focus on was placing one shaky foot in front of the other as she climbed the stone steps to the upper embankment.

Not even the bright headlights of the lone car driving past her cut through the blackness gnawing inside of Julia. The visions started to coil around her again. The crushing weight, curling her shoulders forward as the dream occupied her mind; bogging her thoughts until she was drowning in despair.

Jasmine drifted toward her on the warm breeze. It was a sweet scent, Julia's favourite, and it always drew her lips into a smile. The delicate fragrance acted as a lifeline, pulling her from the chaos churning inside of her, leading her back to reality. But the dreams were unwilling to let go of her without a fight, and the riptide of dark emotions swelled up inside of her determined to drag her back under.