Dream Eater (m|m)

Chapter 27

"Take me there!" I demand, shaking Damien by the front of his shirt. "Take me there right fucking now!"

"Alex, stop!" Damien grabs my shoulders and holds me still. "We can't just rush in. We need a plan."

"Fuck plans! We need to save Dante before that sick fuck does anything worse to them!"

"I know, and we will," he says, his grip on my arms tightening just enough to hurt. "We will, Alex. But we can't just walk in there and give Azael what he wants. Too much is at stake. Please...just give us a chance to come up with a strategy, at the very least. It won't take long."

"For Dante's sake, it better not," I say, glaring.

He flinches and releases me, and suddenly I don't think I can stand up any more. I move away and sit on the edge of the large fountain in the center of the open courtyard.

I don't hear much of what's said after that. Allannan pulls the cloth back over its grisly contents, but I can't take my eyes from it, or stop thinking about how Azael might be making more like it even now.

It feels like hours pass, but it actually doesn't take long to come up with a plan, though no one claims its a very good one.

Damien and I will go first, meeting Azael at the spot he specified. Then, Oran and the Vanguard, along with a host of Carnâki soldiers, will follow, entering the area a short distance away. They'll flank Azael's troops and then launch a surprise attack. In the chaos, Damien is supposed to get me and Dante the fuck out of there.

As eager as I am to get to Dante, I'd be lying if I said I'm not afraid. My stomach feels like it's home to a nest of squirming snakes by the time everyone is in agreement and ready to act.

Damien sees it in my eyes when he joins me by the fountain. He takes my hand and squeezes it lightly.

"Where are we going, anyway?" I ask. Allannan hadn't read that part aloud.

"Some remote forested area in Russia," he says. "The sort of place where meteors can crash and hardly anyone notices."

After a moment, I say what's been on my mind. "Damien, if the plan doesn't work...if Azael forces me to open the Door...will you stop me?"

He looks down at me with eyes like pools of night. "It'll work," is all he says.

~xxx~

Enough of the Vanguard are sufficiently powerful to travel between realms with three or four other people that a sizeable force of Carnâki soldiers is able to accompany us.

Both groups stand at the ready, Oran at their head. He grasps Damien by the arm and wishes us luck.

"I'll see you on the other side, old friend," Oran says, and I wonder if he knows how ominous that sounds. From the grim look he gives us, I think he might.

"Alex," he says to me. "I'm sorry. You're a brave lad, and a true friend. Key or not--demon, human, Celestial, or all three--you're a good man, and I hope if we all come out of this alive you can forgive me my misplaced prejudice. May Manāt smile on your fate."

I'm not sure what the proper response is, so I go with the ever smooth reply of, "Er, you too."

Then it's time. Damien pulls me against him and presses his lips to my hair. "I love you, Alex. I wish everything would just leave us alone and let me love you. I wish..."

"I know," I say. "I love you, too."

I close my eyes and kiss him, and the blue fire takes us away.