Page 13 of Visions in Blood
She surprised him, apparently not finished with the topic.When she set her glass down before standing, he thought she’d walk out, but instead, she paced.“If I’m some dreamwalker, wouldn’t that make my mother one?”
“Your father.”
“What?”She whipped around so quickly, he thought she’d tumble, but she grabbed his desk for support.
He turned in his seat to face her.“I believe it’s your father who is the dreamwalker.Not your mother.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Because if it was her, she would have trained you.Instead, she gave you a necklace your father had insisted you wear at all times.I’m not sure why she took it from you at an age where you would have reached puberty, but I believe that necklace is tied to him being a dreamwalker.”
“It’s a cheap trinket from a deadbeat dad.”
“That you keep locked away so no one can find it.”
Her face reddened, but this time it was from her returning anger.She wanted to say something; her mouth moved, but nothing came out.He guessed what she really wanted was to erase their entire conversation.Now she did what he’d previously predicted.She stormed out.Her race up the staircase pounded in his ears.He anticipated an attempt to slam her bedroom door.With the heaviness of the door and the thickness of the plush carpet, it was difficult to slam doors in this house.God knows others had tried, yet she somehow managed to do it.He would have smiled if he wasn’t at such a loss as to his next step.
A minute later, Sergi entered.“That could have gone better.”
He laid his head back.“Maybe.It would be difficult for anyone to hear they’re a magical creature, especially when their abilities could be explained away by someone else’s.”
“How would you like to proceed?”
Devon rubbed his face before running his hands through his hair as Cressa had done minutes ago.Like the way she’d run her hands through his in one of their more intimate dreams.He pushed the memory aside.“I assume you heard that Cressa had another dream.This time of us in the alley with Sorrento.”
Sergi grimaced.“She’s growing stronger and more out of control.”
“I want every tidbit of information you can find about her past.I don’t care how small or disconnected it might seem, I want to know about it.”He turned toward the dark window, morning still a couple of hours away.“You have the rest of the new day.I want the report before dusk.”
Sergi bowed and left the room, closing the door behind him.He, like others of his inner circle, instinctively knew when Devon didn’t want company.
He dragged himself from the chair, set his glass on the bar, and picked up the tablet sitting on the edge of his desk, quickly reviewing his latest messages.
A full week had gone by since the ball.He’d spent little time with Cressa, and when he did, he’d made sure others were present.He’d wanted her to have space to settle into the new training regiments and become patient with the slow time between jobs.But that came to an end starting tomorrow.She was going to learn about dreamwalkers if he had to hogtie her.Holy hells, what was he getting them into?He glanced toward the ceiling, his focus on the third floor.And would it stop the other nightmares occurring in this house?
ChapterSix
I ranat the wall again, leaping to grab a hold a quarter of the way up, then scrambling to cut across its face before reaching the top, pushing to beat my fastest time.When I clutched the rope and pushed off, I paid attention to not only what was behind me but my target as well.My feet landed within the red circle, my breath rushing out in short rasps, and I stopped the timer before bending over to grasp my thighs, sucking in deep breathes.
After stumbling to the bench to wipe the sweat from my forehead and pits, I checked my watch.Five seconds off my best time.I weighed another run against the law of diminishing return.There wasn’t anything I could do to get faster unless I turned into a vamp.I snorted.A dreamwalker.What was Devon trying to pull?His mission was more than enough for anyone’s plate, though that apparently had stalled for some reason he hadn’t felt the need to share.
All I’d been able to do after storming out of his office the previous evening was to toss and turn the last few hours before dawn.If only I’d had a dream, just so I could prove him wrong.My emotions had been more heightened than his, certainly enough to bring one on if I’d been the one influencing them.But I hadn’t really slept—not deeply.Was that a requirement?I shook my head to clear the unwanted thoughts, refusing to contemplate his argument.Yet, a niggling seed of doubt swirled in the depths of my gut.If I considered it logically, and if what he said was true, that dream manipulation was beyond the powers of a vamp, maybe I should keep an open mind to other possibilities.
Damn him.
I picked up my water bottle and stood to leave when I noticed Devon at the door in a blue-gray suit that emphasized the electric color of his gaze.His hands were held behind his back, and he’d tamed his hair into a ponytail.How long he’d been there was anyone’s guess.
“You’re much faster.”He stepped closer but left half the room between us, hands still held behind him.All business.His expression was pleasant but guarded, probably waiting to see what the crazy woman would do.
I shrugged.“I think that’s as quick as I’m going to get.”
“It’s enough.And you’ve become adept at the ropes in a short amount of time.”
“You must not have heard about Sergi’s surprise visit during training yesterday.”
“And you’ve proved you learned from that experience.”
He was being rather amenable this morning.Maybe he was waiting for the next shoe to drop even though he was the one with all the surprises.Although that might not be fair.We’d both been surprised by what Christopher’s henchman had revealed.
