“Geo…? Geo, can you hear me? Shit…”
I felt like I was floating and I opened my eyes only to have a bright light shinned into them.
“Geo…come on. Say something…”
I squeezed my eyes closed and when I opened them again, my dark apartment came into fuzzy view. A light was on in the kitchen and from what I could tell, a hunched figure sat next to the bed, their top half resting next to me. It was a familiar sight, a comforting thing.
Michael.
My hand was clenched in someone else’s and when mine twitched, the person next to my bed woke up.
“Geo?”
Not Michael. My heart literally plummeted in my chest. I won’t be able to save you anymore.
“My head…”
“You were given a sleeping pill mixed with Rohypnol. You’re going to be…”
I blinked and when my eyes reopened, Luke was sitting on the bed next to me. He was staring off at nothing but when he saw I was awake…
“Hey, sleepy head,” he said quietly.
I blinked again and this time, Aidan was sitting next to me in a chair from my kitchen set, his familiar pant spattered jeans covered his long legs and graphic tee to match. He was drawing in his sketch book and the familiar sight made tears come to my eyes.
“What are you drawing?”
He looked over at me and smiled. “You, of course. What else would I be drawing?”
“Can you stop for a minute and just…”
He put the pencil in the book and closed it, setting it down on the nightstand. He crawled into bed next to me and took my hand, tucking it up under his face like he used to.
“Better?”
I nodded. “I thought you were gone.”
“I came back.”
“For how long?”
He pulled me closer. “For as long as you want.”
“Stay with me? Please?”
He kissed my forehead. “I wouldn’t dream of being anywhere else.”
“I missed you.”
“I know. I missed you too.”
I closed my eyes and when I opened them again, I was running through the forest, my pursuer hot on my trail.
I ran passed an oak tree and my sneakers slapped pavement.
“George—e—ana!”
Holy fuck! I glanced over my shoulder and found Jason running after me, the little flecks of ash floating down from the sky. I ran faster and rounded the building with a skid. The buildings were on fire and wailing people littered the street like discarded paper.
I ran into the usual building, up the familiar stairs, into the usual room…
But stopped.
There was no blood, just tiny dancers in blood red leotards and tutus. Black satin covered their eyes and their finger tips were blood stained…
“Oh my god…
They were all me…as a child. They were all in sync with their movements, bending, reaching, twisting…breaking.
A hand slipped over my mouth as I tried to scream. It was just so…disturbing.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?”
Jason pressed his cheek against mine and pinned me against his body.
“Just think…tonight is different.” He made me walk forward. “The things modern medication can do. It’ll make this all much more fun. There’ll be no waking up, no interruptions, no hope of rescue. Just how it should’ve been in the first place.”
He had me dangling from a pair of manacles in no time. I was in the middle of the room, strung up like I was for punishment. Only my father and Michael wouldn’t be delving out the pain.
Jason stood in front of me with the knife.
“So…what shall we do first?”
“Let me go.”
“Or you’ll what? There’s no one to save you. Michael’s not going to come rushing through that door. He doesn’t even know something’s wrong. And my progeny? Well, he’ll be here soon enough. He’s always late though. I can’t guarantee you’ll be alive when he gets here.”
“Why are you doing this? I never did anything to you.”
“Oh, silly child. You are love embodied. You wronged me the second you were born, the second you were conceived.”
He circled me a few times before coming to a stop in front of me again.
“I think we’ll just do this quick. Spill you all over the floor and when he gets here…” He frowned. “You know what?” He stabbed me in the side and I shrieked in pain. “We’ll do this nice and slow. Let him choose. You can cry if you want.”
Blood began to trickle out slowly. I saw this done on the season finale of Camelot…in Gladiator…
The door banged open behind me.
“Stop.”
It was Aidan…what kind of sick, twisted dream was this? Right. It wasn’t a dream. I was hallucinating while unconscious. Thank you, subconscious! This is exactly the kind of nightmare I wanted to have.
Jason leaned from around me and I saw him smile out of the corner of my eye.
“Ah, Aidan. Good of you to join us.”
“Leave her alone. It’s me you want, let her go and I’ll…”
“Oh but she’s so…” Jason looked back at me and pursed his lips. “What’s the word I’m looking for, dear? Enjoyable. Yes. That’s the one.” He looked back at Aidan. “Can you smell it? I know you can. You want her blood more than you’ve ever wanted anything.”
“Shut up.”
“And look at that.” Jason twirled me around so I was facing Aidan. “It’s just…flowing out of her. Like a faucet but this one can’t be turned off. Sorry.”
I looked at Aidan. His jaw was open just slightly, like he couldn’t believe what he was seeing and he was pale. His eyes were completely taken over by black and the grip he had on the sword tightened.
“I’m not going to let you kill her.”
“Oh my dear boy. It’s already done. See this?” He lifted up my shirt to expose the small wound in my side. My blood had soaked the cotton completely, along with my jeans…
“She’s already dead.”
“No,” he whispered.
“Too late. Again. You can either fight me, leave her strung up and dying alone. Or get her down and let her die in your arms. Which is more important to you, boy? Your vengeance or your love for her?”
Aidan’s sword dropped to the floor, clattering against the marble. He ran forward and Jason took a step away, giving him room. Aidan messed with the manacles until they released me. I slumped against him and he slowly lowered us both to the floor.
He pressed a hand to my side, trying to stop the blood flow but it wasn’t working. Big surprise.
“I’m dying.”
“No,” he whispered. “No, not tonight. You can’t die…”
Tears leaked out of his eyes and I covered his one hand with my own.
“Aidan…look at me. Please…”
He opened his brown eyes and looked at me. “Ana…I’m sorry…”
“Tell me…you love me. Tell me…”
He pulled me up so he could wrap his arms completely around me. He buried his face in my neck like he always used to do. He nodded.
“I love you. I swear, I love you. I’m sorry.”
I sighed with relief even though I knew it wasn’t true. “It’s so…nice to hear…after so long of…not hearing it.”
He sobbed and cried, whispering how much he loved me and wanted me. Everything I wanted to hear after I learned he didn’t. He pressed a kiss to my forehead and then I slipped away…
Or at least that’s what I wanted to happen. Instead of dropping his sword, Aidan became a fury of movements and none of them were in my direction. He advanced on Jason like he had before, leaving me to my own devices. You’d think since this was my hallucinating dream I could control what happened. Unfortunately, I’d never been able to control these dreams very well and there wasn’t much I could do. I wasn’t a zen master of the mind like Michael was.
I was out of commission and the only person who could help me was too busy fighting a bald, very dead Vampire.
Jason’s laugh echoed around the room. “Are you really going to leave her like that?”
I heard a grunt and the sound of metal locking together. They were too evenly matched and if I knew anything, this wouldn’t be quick like last time. Their fight would go on long after I’d bled out and there was no one here to care what happened to me. Aidan was too focused on Jason for me to matter.
I won’t be able to save you anymore.
“Like you said,” there was a scuffle sound from what I assumed would be Aidan counter-acting the blade lock they were in by shoving Jason or himself away, “she’s already dead. There’s nothing I can do.”
“You really are a heartless bastard, aren’t you?” Jason cackled. “The girl loves you and all you can see is me. Funny how things work out. The illusion would be broken if this was really happening.”
“Good thing this is just a dream then.”
They went back to fighting and me? I went back to dying.
I sucked in a deep breath and sat up in bed. I stared straight ahead, my whole body shaking uncontrollably. My hands flew around my torso, checking for the wound…
“Geo…you’re ok.”
I looked to my right and saw Gregori sitting there in a chair. He looked as freaked out and tired as I’d ever seen him before. He even had the beginnings of a beard on his face.
“What…hap—happened?”
“You were drugged. Do you remember?”
I nodded slightly. “Sort of.”
“Are you ok?”
I stared at him. How could he not know the answer to that? Was it not obvious how I was feeling?
“I think…I’m crazy.”
“You’re not crazy, Geo.” He moved so he was sitting next to me on the bed. “The sleeping pill just made it seem that way.”
“It was…it felt so…real.”
“It wasn’t real and I’m sorry. I should’ve taken you home when you asked…”
“Who was it?” I asked, completely ignoring his comment.
“Some Underworlder. He’s dead, needless to say.”
I nodded and covered my face with my hands. The whole thing wasn’t real. The whole thing wasn’t real. But it felt so…different from what I normally dreamt. It had to be real on some level, like dreamwalking just…not.
“Other than thinking you’re crazy, how do you feel?”
“I feel—” my stomach rumbled and I caught the faint trace of stomach acid in my throat “—like I’m going to throw up.”
The feeling of my throat closing up hit me and I shot out of bed and to the bathroom. I managed to get to the toilet just as my stomach turned up everything I’d consumed, which wasn’t much. Since I could count on one hand how many times I’ve thrown up in my life, this was a horrible experience. I never understood how some girls could do this to themselves on purpose. And several at the school used to. My stomach acid left my nose and throat burning. I never thought I would experience liquid coming out of my nostrils…
I heard Gregori’s soft footfalls and a cold wash cloth on the back of my neck. I hadn’t realized my skin was hot until then and goose bumps lit up the surface.
I felt like crap. Probably worse than I’d ever felt and it wasn’t pain I was experiencing. I just felt drained and sick. I’d never really been sick in my life. Minus the time when I was ten. I’d barfed after drinking too much water, eating a hot dog, and then running around. Trust me when I tell you that hot dog chunks coming out of your nose is not fun.
“Ugh.” I rested my head against the toilet seat. “How long until I feel normal?”
“It should wear off soon.”
“What happened?”
“I told you…”
“I mean after I passed out.” The porcelain turned warm so I sat up and immediately regretted it. “Whoa…the room is spinning. Are those…dancing pink elephants?”
Gregori got me situated against the wall across from the toilet and sat down next to me.
“The Underworlder tried to take you out of the bar but several of the patrons were seeing double so…”
My head felt huge and there was a pain centered on the side of my head.
“Please tell me he didn’t drop me.”
“When several dozen Slayers advanced in his direction from all sides, he dropped you like a bad habit. Your head smacked into the back of a bar stool…”
“So when did you notice something was wrong?” I turned my head and looked at him. Thank God I was resting against the wall or I would’ve fallen sideways with dizziness. “Or did you disappear into one of the dark back rooms for mysterious reasons?”
He looked at me incredulously. “Are you trying to imply something?”
I smiled. “Did you find a girl?” He narrowed his eyes at me. “Aw, that’s so cute.”
“I had to piss. It’s not my fault I take my eyes off you for a second and…”
“I wanted to go home. You’re the one that made me stay there. You told me I would be safe with you and instead I almost get kidnapped. Again.” I turned my head and stared straight ahead. “I hate almost getting kidnapped. It sucks.”
“You were perfectly safe. He didn’t even make it halfway through the bar before someone noticed something was wrong.”
“That’s further than the last guy got.” I sighed and wrinkled my nose. “Either I need to clean my bathroom or I smell.”
“Well, you did just throw up.”
“How long was I hallucinating?”
“Three hours. It’s now a little passed midnight.”
“I’m starving.”
He smiled and then laughed. “For the past two days I’ve been trying to get you to eat. Don’t tell me all I needed to do was have you possibly kidnapped and drugged for your hunger to kick in.”
“If you bug me about this, I’m going to go back on hunger strike.”
“Well. How about…you shower and I’ll order you something to eat.”
“I have food in the kitchen.”
“I know but I don’t feel like cooking and you’re seeing double.”
I smirked. “Just so you know your double is hotter than you.”
“I’m going to ignore that mostly because I think you meant it as an insult. Do you have an aversion for meatball subs?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever had one.”
He turned his top half so he could stare at me. I didn’t know why that was surprising; he knew I spent most of my life on that campus. The only meatballs I had were in my spaghetti.
“Ok. I’m ordering you a sub and maybe the greasiest fries you’ve ever had.”
“That is so unhealthy.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be working it off later today.”
“Don’t I get a day off?” I asked as he stood up. “I was just drugged…”
“No days off unless you are deathly ill. Besides, I’ve been taking it easy on you as it is.”
“Easy? You call what we’ve been doing easy?”
“Pretty much. When I was a novice, my mentor didn’t give me more than three hours to sleep per night for two weeks after I got here and that was only because it was required. So yes, easy. And you’ll be excited about our next training session.”
“Why?”
“It’s in a pool.”
“Why would I be excited about that?”
“Because you get to see my double without a shirt on. How exciting is that?”