Dreamer (26 page)

She didn't even hear the goddess move, but Chuang Mu's small
hand stroked down her back. The movement held the compassion and love of every
mother that had ever stroked the face of her sleeping child, and Shan wept.
Small, but incredibly strong arms, held her as the stress of the day’s
revelations poured from her. Safe, she was so utterly and completely safe. Her
goddess loved her and would hold her for as long as she needed. Sniffing, Shan
pulled back and gestured to Chuang Mu's robe. “Sorry about getting you all
messy.”

The goddess's laughter mixed with a splash of water as a
fish jumped in the pond.
“Here in the
Spirit Realm a wet robe is not much of an issue.”

The air pressure changed along with a faint breeze, and Shan
watched the night-sky robe become replaced by a navy blue robe with moonlit
clouds on the hem. They drifted in tranquil puffs, and she admired the sheen of
silver reflecting from the moon's brilliance.

Chuang Mu cleared her throat, and Shan tore her eyes away
from her clothing for the second time today.
“It is time for you to go. While Zachary is not aware of you, Epiales
is. We believe he is trying to eliminate you before you can stop Zachary. The
demons that inhabit those children will only grow stronger over time, and
eventually we will have no choice but to kill their bodies.”

“That would destroy their parents just as surely as being
killed by their own child.”

“Yes.”

Cracking her neck, Shan stretched and tried to check the
time by the position of the sun in the sky. “How long have I been gone?”

“Two
hours. Time moves differently here.”

“Wow.” Shan's gaze reached as far as Chuang Mu's chin, and
she hesitated. “Thank you for choosing me.” It seemed inadequate to describe
her joy at the goddess’s trust and connection to her, but it was the best her
frazzled mind could come up with.

“It is
my honor, Shan. By the way, that is the name Zachary and Liu picked out for
you. It was the name of Liu's grandmother, and your middle name is the name of
Zachary's mother.”
Chuang Mu cupped her face and placed a gentle kiss on her
forehead.
“I'm going to return you slowly
to your body in order to give it time to absorb my gifts. While you will not
have Devon's speed and muscles, you will have new abilities that will come to
you over time. You will be able to kill nightmares, to cleanse bedrooms of evil
spirits, sooth the pain of laboring mothers, and to help those who are having
sexual difficulties in the bedroom.”

Shan blushed and tried not to cough at the last part. Was
she supposed to be some kind of superhero sex therapist?

“Goodbye,
my daughter. Have Devon show you my mark when you awake.”

The world began to fade, and the sensation of lying in an
immense featherbed surrounded her body. Drifting ever so slowly upward, Shan
slept as her body and spirit began to change.

Devon checked the array of weapons strategically placed
around the room and continued to pace. The light around the edge of the bedroom
curtains was beginning to brighten, and the little clock next to her bed showed
that three hours had passed. His stomach growled again in protest of missing
dinner, demanding breakfast, but he ignored it.

On the bed, Shan lay in a peaceful sleep, the rise and fall
of her chest the only movement other than an occasional twitch of her eyelids.
About half an hour ago, she had screamed and arched off the bed, but when he
tried to touch her, a strong shield of energy from an unfamiliar goddess kept
him back. He could only hope that was a good sign. Every choosing was
different, some lasting for days and others mere minutes.

When he had been chosen, it had been in the middle of a
firefight when he was still in the Marines. His god Mentu had taken him, chosen
him in less than a minute, and plunked him back into his new and improved body
in time to save his men. He fingered the elaborate bull's head tattoo on his
arm, the mark of Mentu, and took comfort from it. The one thing he had learned
above all else was that the Creation Gods loved their Chosen very much.

Almost as much as he loved Shan. Her soft, feminine body
housed an inner core of steel that attracted him as much as her submissive
nature. Studying her as she slept, he grinned at the streaks of blue through
her dark hair. What he had first seen as a childish symbol of rebellion now
reminded him of a red flag waving at a bull. Gods knew he couldn't resist her.

Shaking his head, he refocused on her safety. Malik had
called sometime during the wait to inform him of more children waking up with
demons controlling their bodies. Having run out of restraints, the hospitals
had to contact local hardware stores for chains to hold the children down. The
cloth restraints only worked on the youngest of children. Trying to keep them
under control and protecting their bodies at the same time was proving
difficult.

Not long after that, Eliana had called. She and her fiancé,
Aiden, were working at Mother's Arms, a battered women's shelter run by the
Creation community, and they were having to contend with their share of
children as well. In addition to trying to subdue the possessed, they had
protect the women using the facility as a safe house. One husband had already
snuck in during the chaos and almost killed his wife before he was discovered.
She was recovering from stab wounds to her arms and shoulders while he was
sitting in the local jail.

As if that weren't enough, the media and local crackpots
were gathering outside of the hospitals. Some crusaders there were screaming
about the children being punished for the sins of their fathers and shouting
chants of damnation at the hospital parking lot through megaphones. The police
and Temple Guards were keeping them at bay, but Devon was worried that
Destruction would use the chaos to launch an attack.

Running his energy through his wards, he extended outward
and tried to cover as much of the area surrounding Shan’s building as he could.
With the arrival of the rising sun, workers began to stream into the industrial
complex and fill the warehouses that Shan called home. Mostly human spirits, he
ran across the buzzing energy of a magical practitioner here and there, though
nothing near the level of a Chosen or even a priest, more like devoted
followers and hedge wizards.

Something off to the west skittered across his energy with a
creeping sensation that raised the hair on his arms. Reaching out, he tried to
isolate it, but it slipped away before he could get a good feel for it.
Mentally mapping the area, he tried to remember what was to the west. More
warehouse buildings, the gate surrounding the yards, a street with some shops.
It could have been something wicked that happened to be in the area simply
driving by. Wouldn't be unusual. Some days it seemed like evil was everywhere.

A soft sound from the bed caught his attention as loud as a
shout. He wasn't even aware of moving. One minute he was standing, and the next
he was kneeling at Shan's side. Mumbling something, she made a face and licked
her lips.

“Shan?” He hesitantly reached out and brushed his knuckles
against the silk of her cheek. When no goddess powers blew him back into the
wall like it had earlier when he tried to wake Shan up, he traced his
fingertips over her forehead.

“Gah,” she said and scrunched her nose.

Worry pierced his heart. Had something happened to her while
she was in the Spirit Realm? Maybe part of her test was doing something there,
and she had failed and been hurt. It was not unknown for injuries to follow
someone’s soul back from the Spirit Realm and harm the mind and body. The rules
of reality were different there.

“Shan?” he asked again, trying to keep the panic out of his
voice.

“Who shit in my mouth?” she asked and smacked her lips.

“What?” He rocked back on his heels and gaped at her.

Opening her eyes a small slit, she grinned at him. “Morning
breath.”

Closing his mouth, he grabbed her in a fierce hug that had
her pounding on his back. “Can't breathe!”

Easing back, he climbed into bed with her and pulled her
sleep-warm body onto his lap. Wrapping her in her comforter, he rained kisses
down across her face. Her laughter turned to a low gasp of pleasure as he
nipped her lower lip.

“Wow, that feels...different.”

Shifting his sight, his heart surged with joy at the golden
lightning now streaking through her rose-pink aura. “Welcome back, Chosen.”

Her joyous smile warmed him as she wriggled in his arms.
“Devon, it was so amazing. I met my goddess, and she is just...wow...and then
she marked me and…”

Laughing, he leaned back and gave her enough room to sit.
“Who is she?”

She said in a soft and reverent voice, “Chuang Mu.”
Straining her neck, she tried to look at her back. “She marked me on my back,
though I'm not sure what it looks like.”

Shaking his head, he gently turned her around and let out a
low whistle. An elaborate tattoo covered her entire back in shades of red,
black, and gold. At first it appeared to be a series of scrolling clouds, but
as he looked closer, he noticed shapes hidden within. Here the shadow of a
mother embracing her child, there a sleeping man, and another shape that
appeared to be lovers entwined in an embrace.

Scooping her up into his arms, he carried her to the
bathroom and set her on the sink. Naked, she presented a tempting picture, but
he restrained himself and handed her a mirrored makeup compact. Flipping it
open, she angled it to see the reflection of her back and gasped. “Whoa.”

Unable to resist, he traced the contours of the mark while
she examined it. “Tell me about Chuang Mu. I'm not familiar with her.”

Moving the heavy sheath of her hair so she could see where
the tattoo extended up to the base of her neck, she carefully traced the
sinuous design. “She's the Chinese goddess of the bedroom.”

“Uh, okay.”

Snickering, she continued to twist and turn to further
admire the design. “She has power over things that happen in the bedroom, like
sleeping, dreams, and sex.”

“Really?” His cock twitched as he caressed her soft thighs.
Having a goddess of sex as her patron would do interesting things to her
sensitivity. Reaching out with his aura, he brushed against her energy in such
a sexual way that she almost dropped the makeup compact.

“Oh my.” Her dark nipples contracted into firm points, and
she wrapped her legs around his waist. As he leaned in to capture her lips, she
pushed him back. “No, wait!”

“I don't care about your morning breath,” he said in a low
tone and tried to kiss her again. It felt so good to have her in his arms, and
he sent a silent prayer of thanks that the gods had blessed him with such a
wonderful woman.

She ducked her head and pushed against his shoulder. “I'm
not talking about my morning breath. I know what's going on with the children.”

Her words hit him like a cold shower, and he grabbed a towel
and wrapped it around her. “Tell me.”

Taking a deep breath, her aura gave off a pulse of sorrow
and uncertainty. She tucked the towel around her and gripped it until her
knuckles turned white. She was afraid of telling him something.

Lowering his voice, he put his power as a Dom behind it.
“Kitten, tell me.”

In a voice barely above a whisper, she said, “I—I'm afraid
you won't like me if I tell you.”

Trying to keep his impatience under control, he deliberately
moved into her personal space. In a teasing voice, he said, “Unless you tell me
that you're the one doing this to the children, there is nothing you can say
that would make me not like you.”

She flinched, and his gut clenched. “I'm kinda responsible
for it.”

Going perfectly still, he waited for her to continue.
Stealing a quick glance at him, she continued. “My birth father is the one
doing it.”

Calling on his considerable self-control, he managed to keep
his voice even. “Please continue.”

She quickly explained how her birth father was doing this as
revenge and how she needed to get to the hospital with Daisy. “So, you see, in
a way I am responsible for this.”

Picking his words carefully, Devon pulled her into his arms
and wrapped his energy around her. So tense, her body was like unbending steel
beneath his hands. “Shan, it's not your fault.”

“But—”

“No buts. You are not responsible for your birth parents’
actions any more than you’re responsible for that of your
great-great-great-grandparents.”

She let out a watery laugh against his chest and burrowed
closer. “I'm going to make this right.”

“No,
we
are going
to make this right.” Holding her by the shoulders, he crouched down so that she
was looking directly into his eyes. The fragile hope he saw there at once
annoyed him and tugged at his heart. He needed to prove to his kitten that her
trust in him wasn't misplaced. That he wouldn't leave her. “You are mine. Mine
to protect and cherish.” He considered telling her that he loved her, but he
really wanted to be able to do it the right way. And standing naked in a
bathroom when they needed to go save the world wasn't it.

Picking her up by the waist and setting her on the floor, he
gave her towel-covered bottom a swat. “Go get dressed. I'll call my mother and
tell her what's going on. She'll spread the word.”

Nodding, she took a deep breath and squared her small
shoulders. Barefoot and without makeup, she looked far younger than her age,
and his heart ached at the thought of the danger they were about to plunge
into. Knowing that time was of the essence, but unable to help himself, he
lifted her off her feet and kissed her until her body lost its muscle-breaking
tension. Melting into him, she sighed as he sucked and nibbled on her lips.

The dominant in him roared in triumph as she went limp and
trusting in his hands. So precious, the focus of his world rearranged itself to
keeping his woman safe.

****

Maria sat on an iron bench down the street from the hospital
and took a sip from her coffee. Even at five in the morning with dawn breaking
in the distance, the area around the hospital throbbed with an angry mass of
protesters. A massive mob of crusaders surrounded the city hospital and shouted
ridiculous chants about God punishing sinners. With her enhanced vision, she
could see Destruction Chosen and High Priests insinuating themselves among the
crowd.

Her hand shook as she thought about her failure to reach
Shan so far, and she prayed that the dark prophet was correct in saying that
Shan would be coming here. Now she was laying a careful trap that would kill
both Shan and Devon. As a little extra insurance, she had some hunter demons
patrolling the side streets. They would alert her as soon as that bitch was
seen.

The large purse at her side twitched, and she laid a
soothing hand against it, murmuring some words in Greek that settled the beast
within. If all else failed, she would personally introduce them to the true
power of Epiales. She almost envied them for the amount of pain and terror that
would surround them as they died. It was going to be magnificent.

A dark power pressed against her mind, and she grimaced. It
was Zachary again, wanting to see through her eyes. Her nostrils flared as she
stood from the bench and grabbed her purse. Once she was hidden in a doorway,
she opened her mind to his spirit.

“Any
luck, Maria?”
he asked in a gentle voice.

Always polite, always courteous, she tried to hide her
disgust at having to let him use her body to see through. She had no idea why
Epiales had picked him as a Chosen; he was such a disappointment. If she had
half of his powers, the world would be a screaming hole of constant torment.

“Maria?”

She forced tears to fill her eyes as she said in a weary
mental voice,
“No, Zachary, no luck. I've
been trying to get to your body for hours, but they have it surrounded.”
She peeked around the side of the building and scanned the crowd too quickly
for him to get a real sense of anything but a vast mob.