Page 2 of Unleashing Mayhem
He blinked up at the apparition, trying to calm his hiccuping sobs. He swallowed hard. And then he smiled, shaky as the gesture might have been.
“Oh,” Matty said, his voice thick with tears as he stared at the monster looming over him, that fanged maw opening wide. “It’s you.”
Nightmare opened his eyes,staring out at his dim, dusty cave. He licked his lips, savoring the traces that were left there, his shadows dancing around him in delight.
Sweet and tart. Sugared lemon.
Nightmare smiled into the dark, a flash of sharp teeth with no one there to see them. He wished he could return, but the dream had already faded. He would have to wait another night.
It was a dull proposition. The Void had long grown tedious, even before Nightmare had lost his companions. He still hadn’t decided if the trio he’d been stuck with had made it more or less so in the first place, but the answer was of no consequence.
Nightmare would be leaving soon.
It was a matter ofwhenand notifnow. Nightmare could sense the soul magic in his summoning mark, all the way across the ether in the human realm. He could feel how it had dislodged itself from the Book, seeking the right soul to aid their escape.
Nightmare knew which human his magic sought, but he was less certain if fate would be so considerate as to allow it.
It mattered little either way. Nightmare would make his own fate.
He may not have anticipated the Book getting lost in the human realm for centuries—an oversight if there ever was one—but Nightmare hadn’t wasted his time here. He’d worked slowly and patiently, feeding as best he could on the tattered dreams he was able to access through the veil of the Void. Leeching off human fear, bitter and potent even from a great distance. Consolidating his power and building his reserves.
Nightmare stretched his long limbs, cracking his neck to the left. To the right. He closed his eyes once more, slipping back into the dream realm in the quiet of the empty Void.
For now, he would find a lesser dream to ease his boredom. He could be patient a little while longer, here in the prison of his own making.
After all, there was something sweet waiting for him on the other side.
1
Matty
Screaming. Blood everywhere. A knife hacking away at an unsuspecting victim.
Matty tucked himself deeper into his multilayered blanket burrito, popping more sour candy into his mouth as the movie played. When his phone rang a moment later, he already knew whose name he’d see on the screen, requesting a video call.
Only one person ever called Matty. And that person was usually living in the same house with him, so there wasn’t much occasion for it.
But now Matty’s housemate Sascha and his demon husband, Kai, were off on vacation, and Matty was alone, so Sascha was calling him daily to check in.
Alone in the house. No one to protect you. Don’t think about it, don’t think about it,don’tthink about it.
Maybe Matty should have felt more pathetic about Sascha feeling the need to check on him so regularly, but he could only feel grateful.
He swallowed his candy and lowered the volume on the TV, picking up on the second ring. “Hey, Sascha.”
“Matty!” Sascha cried. He looked beautiful as always, with his light hair and pale-blue eyes and delicate features, and his smile was loose enough that it was clear he was tipsy. “I was worried you might be asleep already.”
“Not yet.”
It was well past midnight, but Matty had no intention of going to sleep, not until he absolutely had to. He could already tell it would be a nightmare sort of night, and he was choosing avoidance over bravery. As per usual.
He planned to keep watching his horror movie marathon through increasingly dry and itchy eyes, relying on a mix of sugar and stubbornness to stay awake. He’d stocked up on sweets before Sascha and Kai had left, so wouldn’t run out of candy, at least. With any luck, he could stay up all night, not passing out until it was light outside and the horror of waking from another dread-filled dreamscape would be less potent.
Not that Matty was going to tell Sascha any of that.
Sascha already worried too much about Matty. They weren’t even related or, like, normal friends, so it wasn’t fair to him. Matty was just a stray Sascha and Kai had picked up and were reluctant to kick out.
A fact for which Matty would be eternally grateful for the rest of his life.
