Prologue
KING
“Here we are again.”Sky waggled his eyebrows at me. “What or who do you think we’ll find this time?” He wiggled his fingers.
I understood his excitement—sort of. So far, the banishings had gone pretty smoothly now that we knew he had a psychopomp who would give us exactly what we needed. There were aspects of this job—gift—that I was struggling with, but I didn’t want to ruin Sky’s enthusiasm, so I kept them to myself.
“Where are we anyway?” he asked, spinning in the small room where we’d woken up inside the Dream-veil.
“I think it’s a closet,” I hissed back.
“Huh.” He pushed at the crack in the door, opening it up wider so that we could see into the low-lit room fully.
From our direct line of sight, there was a cherry wood rocking chair in the corner with cream-colored cushions, and a soft pastel blanket hung over the back. “What the heck?” Sky breathed out.
With the gentle stream of light creeping into the closet, I looked behind us at the rod and realized why the clothes weren’t assaulting us. They were little bitty—for an infant. “Shit.”
Sky glanced from the door and followed my gaze to the rack. His eyes widened. “This is a baby’s room,” he hissed.
Obviously feeling as upset as me, he bent a little and stuck his head through the door. Since I was so much taller than him, I stood on the balls of my feet and looked out over the top of him.
We were in the closet of a lovely nursery. The crib and dressing table matched the wood of the rocking chair. The whole room was done in soft pastels, from the bedding to the walls. This room had been decorated with loving care. “Aw,” Sky hummed softly. The interior decorator in him approving.
Pacing the room was a woman with her hair knotted up on top of her head in a long, silky bathrobe. Cradled to her chest was a precious bundle of blanket that she was singing softly to. So far, there was no sign of any spooky apparition, though.
Sky bumped his butt into my groin, pushing me backward. With no danger in sight, my cock perked up with interest from the press of his pert ass, but I ignored it for now.
“Why do you think we’re here?” he asked. “I don’t see anything out there.”
Shaking my head, I puzzled over it. “I’m not sure. Do you think she’s pregnant and dreaming of when her baby will be born?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.” He bit his lower lip, then we both heard the shrieks of the child.
Sticking our heads back out to take a look, the sight before me made my blood run cold. We weren’t in the mother’s dream at all. The baby, who’d been snuggled up so nicely that she’d been invisible to us, was now thrashing and wailing, her little head with a pink hat sticking out. The poor girl’s face was so red it was almost purple, and tears leaked out of her eyes. I didn’t know a lot about children, but she couldn’t have been more than a few months old.
The mother bounced her child harder in her arms, cooing softly and telling her it would be alright. This had been her dream. To be in her mama’s arms where she felt safe and cared for. But pacing at their side, a new specter had revealed itself.
A young man with pale skin, making the most disgusted face I’d ever seen, poked at the side of the child’s face. What kind of person—even dead—picked at a baby? As I opened my mouth to tell Sky to call his psychopomp-pup, the entity screamed into the baby girl’s face. She startled, inhaling so hard that her breath caught in her small chest. Her dream mom, unaware of the commotion around her, paced on.
Sky gasped. “Oh hell no,” he muttered as he stomped out of the closet, leaving me to scramble out behind him.
We’d only done this a few times, but we had it down now. I cut toward the piece-of-shit tormentor as he stopped to call forth psychopomp-pup. I watched as a shimmer of purples and reds glimmered around his body, sparking in a flare as the pup landed in his open arms. I wondered if he knew how…electric he was in this space in between. How powerful he became.
The spirit’s gaze snapped away from the babe, and he glared at Sky with eyes as black as night, filled with malice. “Sky!” I yelled.
A sword instantly appeared in my hands, and it was none too soon. The spooky moved swiftly in Sky’s direction, not even appearing to notice me with his fixation on the smaller man, and I struck out, stabbing it in the back as its hands curved in claws, reaching toward Sky.
It didn’t feel gentlemanly to stick it in the back like this, but I wasn’t taking any chances with Sky. This was the closest one of these spookies had gotten to either of us since the first time, and I wasn’t having it. Besides, it was torturing a child!
Black sparks lit up the room as the foul torturer burst apart, leaving his scream echoing behind his disintegrated body.
“Phew.” Sky buried his nose against the side of his familiar’s neck. “That was close.”
Rushing to him, I pulled him into my chest, squishing his pup between us. “Are you okay?”
He took a deep breath before beaming up at me, smiling so brightly that his eyes twinkled. “Of course. I’m with you.”
The pup between us yipped, causing Sky to giggle and kiss the top of his head. “And you, my sweet boy.” His gaze rose to mine. “We really have to name him.”
