Page 57 of Lucas
I tilted my head, instantly curious at what could have made him change his mind so completely. “Why not?”
He leaned his forehead against mine. “You gave me all the advice I needed.”
Philipe,Rom, Jacques, and Bella were already in the sitting room when Lucas and I arrived for drinks. It didn’t seem unusual to see Philipe and Rom in such fine attire, but Jacques was like a new vamp, and it was apparent he wasn’t overly comfortable in the suit and tie. Bella, on the other hand, fit into the burgundy gown as if it had been made for her. And I lifted a brow when Rom’s gaze appeared to note it as well.
“Wine or something stronger?” Philipe asked.
“Wine for me.” I glanced around the room that was filled with paintings and sculptures. If I were Cressa, I might channel my internal Pandora and determine what a fence would pay for each treasure. I held in a snicker as Philipe handed me a glass. And though I never heard Lucas answer one way or another, Philipe passed him a scotch, seeming to pick up on his growing tension.
We’d barely sat when the men stood as a young woman entered the room, her elegant gown of navy blue complementing her white-blonde hair that had been pulled back into a chignon. She looked my age, though her sharp gaze held centuries of wisdom, considering she had to have been at least a hundred years old to have been a custodian in the 1920s.
“I’m so sorry for my absence until now.” Her voice was melodic, and her smile sincere. “I’m sure Philipe told you I tend to lose myself in the stacks. I would have been here sooner, but we rarely get visitors, and our cook was beside himself on what to prepare. Then he became flustered thinking the soufflé had been ruined. He’s really too much of a perfectionist. I can’t remember him ever serving a bad meal.”
“Except that one time when Father came to visit and brought several pounds of crawdads,” Philipe reminded her.
Her laugh was full-bodied. “Oh my, yes. But that wasn’t the cook’s fault. Somewhere along the way, the crawdads had thawed and then were frozen again. They were quite bad. I don’t think any of us have been able to touch one since.”
They both laughed at the memories as Philipe poured her a glass of wine. Introductions were made, and the couple sat together on a sofa and turned their gaze on Lucas.
“Sorry to put you on the spot, as they say, but Fiona and I haven’t been able to talk about anything else since you mentioned dreamwalkers. They’re a myth among vampires, you know.”
I wasn’t sure what direction Lucas would take the conversation, but he squeezed my wrist, and I knew he’d be fine. Rom shifted in his chair, and though he knew part of what Lucas had to share, it only skimmed the surface.
“Vampire society has been led to believe they are a myth, but I think you know better.” When Philipe’s stoic expression didn’t change, Lucas wasn’t deterred. He settled back and sipped his scotch. “It all started with a simple trade. The services of a human thief for a debt owed. You said you’d heard of the tragic Trelane accident and Lyra being the only survivor. She’d been horribly traumatized by the event with the loss of her parents and Hamilton, her first love. At some point during her recovery, she began hearing voices and spoke of horrible dreams. Everyone thought she was lost to insanity—all except Devon and Sergi. Instead of sending her to an asylum, Devon hid her within the manor, creating a livable environment where she could be safe.”
Lucas spoke briefly of Devon’s absence due to the Poppy and his eventual rise as House leader. Then he shared the rumors Devon had heard about dreamwalkers and his belief they mightsomehow help Lyra. But his decades of research came up empty until The Wolf brought him Cressa.
Then Lucas told them about Devon’s and Cressa’s shared dreams.
“You’re telling me her dreams were prescient?” Philipe asked, his astonished gaze meeting Fiona’s.
“From what I understand, not all of them are, but we know of one that came true and another that was close enough to a real occurrence.” Lucas accepted a refill of scotch from Jacques, and he took a long moment to appreciate it.
I was so proud of him, I wanted to kiss him. But he was on a roll, and I didn’t dare touch him in case it broke his concentration.
Once he had a moment to prepare for the next reveal, he continued. “Cressa eventually asked her mother about the dreams and learned of her father and the medallion he’d had made for her. It was Devon who convinced her mother to help, and she gave him a single name.” He hesitated and took a large swallow. I wasn’t sure if he’d done it for dramatic effect or to calm his nerves.
“Colantha Dupré.” He shared Cressa’s story of her travel to New Orleans to find the woman who claimed to be a dreamwalker. Then he jumped to Cressa’s abduction by Venizi from an accident eerily similar to Guildford’s.
“Devon believed the only way to find Cressa was by reaching her through her dreams. But he needed help, so he went to New Orleans to find Colantha Dupré. At first, he thought she might be using strong voodoo, but it didn’t take long for Devon to realize she was the real deal.
“Colantha came to Santiga Bay to help with our search.” Lucas shifted in his seat and set his glass down, holding the gaze of Philipe, Fiona, and Rom. “The others in this room will back me up. Colantha is, in fact, everything she says she is. She tookus to what she calls a construct. A dreamworld where you believe everything is real.” He scooted to the edge of the sofa, completely engaged with our hosts. “All your senses are alive—touch, smell, taste, hearing. Quite frankly, it’s almost indescribable.”
“And you’ve both been there?” Fiona turned to Bella and Jacques, and, looking extremely uncomfortable, they both nodded. “Why do I feel there’s more to the story?”
“We learned two things during our rescue of Cressa from Shadow Island. First, we learned that Colantha can bring non-dreamwalkers into a construct and hold them there unless they have the mental training to break the connection.”
Lucas was aware this would be the sticking point between the vamps and dreamwalkers, so he gave them time to digest the information. While Rom turned a shade paler, Philipe and Fiona didn’t appear surprised.
“And the second item?” Philipe asked. He appeared to have moved beyond doubt of the existence of dreamwalkers and was merely confirming details.
“During Cressa’s time on Shadow Island, she discovered Venizi was holding a prisoner in a guarded building. She became aware of the prisoner when he reached out to her in a dream.”
Fiona edged closer, and Philipe reached for her arm as if to hold her back. “Who was this prisoner? Was she able to save him?”
Lucas nodded. “It required a team of vampires, shifters, and Colantha, but we managed to extract him.” He took a deep breath before delivering the bombshell.
“The prisoner was Hamilton.”
