Icarians: Poisoned Dreams (13 page)

Everything melted away, the pain was gone, the people were gone, and Nicole. The only thing she could feel was sadness. “Analeigh, you better turn. You don't want to burn." Nicole warned her. Analeigh jumped up breathing heavily.
"It was just a dream?!" relieved she started to cry.
"What? You had a dream? You were only asleep for ten minutes." Nicole told her. Analeigh couldn't believe it was a dream, she looked around for the panther that haunted and hunted her. Seeing nothing she laughed.
"That was by far the most real one yet." She quickly told Nicole about the dream. Nicole gasped.
"You need to start writing them down. Write down the ones that you remember and keep it with you where ever you go so when you have a dream you can get it down as soon as possible and you won't forget anything."
"Why would I want to remember such awful dreams?"
"Because its therapeutic." Nicole told her and she laughed again.

They spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach swimming and flirting with guys that passed by. It had been a long time since she could relax, aside from the bar incident, this day hopefully would turn out a lot better.
"You want to eat at the diner on the way home?" Analeigh asked Nicole. She agreed and they left the beach, Analeigh had the start of a great tan, poor Nicole was a bright pink.

They went into the diner and sat down in a booth. Analeigh ordered a Caesar salad and a bottle of water. Nicole ordered a roasted ham sandwich with a Hawaiian punch. Analeigh made a few comments on her friends choice of drink. They ate in silence, enjoying each others company. Analeigh looked out the window and saw Jaxon across the street talking to an older man. He looked so good she gasped, he was wearing a crisp white dress shirt, and charcoal black well fitted slacks. It looked as though he had discarded a tie along time ago because the shirt's top few buttons were undone and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows revealing strong, well formed forearms. Nicole followed her line of sight.
"That should be illegal.."
Analeigh agreed as she turned back to her food. He was so moody, and mysterious. No wonder she was attracted to him. Moody, mysterious, and drop dead gorgeous were qualities that no woman could resist. She thought about the last time she was with him. He had flat out lied to her, no matter how attractive he was, lying was not something she was prepared to tolerate.
"I thought tomorrow we would go to the local gym. I haven’t worked out since I got here.." Nicole rolled her eyes.
"Maybe you shouldn't, you have lost some weight, I can tell."
"I don't work out to lose weight, I do it to keep muscle tone. It just seems like I haven’t done any of the stuff I like to do since I got here, I haven't drawn anything, I haven't worked out or danced. I went running once."
"That’s ok your just doing lots of other stuff, the house. That’s enough to keep you busy the whole summer."
"That’s true." And Jaxon was keeping her distracted that was for sure. Nicole smiled.
"Shall we go say hello to him?"
"Definitely not." Analeigh had thought they were well on there way to being friends, she was wrong. She wasn't angry with him, just disappointed.

Analeigh and Nicole finished their meal and walked back to Nickie’s car. Analeigh couldn't help sneaking one last glance at Jaxon, who was still in conversation with the older man. They drove back to Analeigh's house in silence. They were both worn out. They pulled into her driveway, night had fallen.
"May I suggest some motion lights? You house is so creepy at night." Nicole said shivering from behind the wheel.
"I completely agree." Analeigh got her keys ready to unlock the front door. They got out of the car and rushed onto the porch. She put the key into the lock and paused when she heard a horrible noise. It sounded like a wounded animal.
"Just get the door open Analeigh!" Nicole demanded. Analeigh quickly unlocked the door then punched the code into the alarm system as Nicole slammed the door shut and turned the dead bolt locking the door.
"Man, how were you staying here alone?" Nicole asked peeking out the window, not that she could see anything it was so dark outside.
"It does get hard sometimes." A thought came to her, and she didn't think she would be able to stay here once Nicole leaves.

Analeigh started turning on lights all the way to the bathroom. In the hall she caught a scent of something foreign. It smelled like cologne and something dead. She stopped and listened, there was something off.
"Hey Nicole remind me to call an exterminator tomorrow." Analeigh didn't wait for an answer, she went into the bathroom and showered, washing the beach and ocean off of her skin and hair.

When she got out of the shower she put on her robe and brushed her teeth. She went upstairs and popped her head into Nickie's room.
"Hey I'm beat. I'm going to bed." She told her friend. "Wait a minute." Nicole went to her dresser and retrieved something. She handed Analeigh a pink leather note book and a pen.
"If you have a nightmare, write in this." Analeigh felt like rolling her eyes but instead she gave into Nicole and smiled.
"Ok I'll try. She knew it was a losing battle, she also knew that she would have to write in it because Nicole would want to read it. She said good night and walked across the hall to her bedroom.

She laid the notebook on her night stand and put on a pair of shorts and a thin tank top. She sank into bed gratefully. Soon she was asleep.

Chapter 16

Analeigh woke slowly. For once it wasn't a nightmare that woke her. She got out of bed and walked across her room to the window overlooking the dark back yard. She tried to think of what woke her. As she looked out the window she realized that what woke her wasn't outside at all. The hair began to rise on the back of her neck when she heard a floor board squeak from behind her. Analeigh knew then that what had woke her was already in the bedroom with her. She was almost to scared to turn around, almost. Slowly she began to turn, but the person in the room moved so quickly she didn't have time to see them. She felt something cold against her skull. A menacing voice whispered in her ear.
"Trust me you don't want to turn around. And don't even think about turning around, you wouldn't want to wake up that pretty red head in the next room. Then I'd have to take care of her too." Trembling she shook her head in agreement.
Her mind began to race, trying to think of a way out. He violently shoved her to the door, she had no choice but to follow. Silently they walked downstairs. He stopped her when they reached the back door leading to the patio. He raised a piece of cloth to her neck and lifted it to her eyes without a word. Blindfolded he walked her through the door. A hard rain pelted her when they walked through the door soaking her almost instantly. Scared out of her mind she tried to plead with her kidnapper.
"Please let me go." He jerked hard on her arm and hissed "Shut up!"
Analeigh was tempted to reach up and peek out from under the blind fold but thought better of it. As if reading her mind he grabbed her hands and taped her wrists together, then her mouth. She felt another set of hands, they both grabbed her and suddenly the three of them were moving really fast. Her feet were lifted off the ground, she attempted to scream and wiggle away from them, neither of them did any good. A short time later she was back on the ground. Leaving her hands bound one of her abductors removed her blindfold.

Analeigh's eyes were blurry for a moment, when they adjusted she saw where they had taken her. Filled with dread she screamed "No!"

Nicole woke up with a strange feeling. She glanced at the clock on the wall, it was one forty five am. She set up in bed and waited, maybe she too had a bad dream. When the strange feeling didn't go away she got out of bed and knocked on Analeigh's door. She waited only a second then went inside. Analeigh was gone. Nicole checked in her bathroom then called out for her "Analeigh!" No answer. She ran downstairs. The first thing she noticed was the back door was wide open. Nicole stepped out onto the patio. It was to dark to see anything so she called for her again. "Analeigh!" Still nothing.

Nicole went back inside and paced from the kitchen to the dinning room and back again trying to think of what to do next. She went out front to check the cars. They were both there. Nicole ran back up stairs to find Analeigh's cell phone. She found it on her night stand and couldn't think of anyone else to call but Jaxon. When he answered his phone she tried to sound calm.
"Hey Jaxon, have you seen or heard from Analeigh?"
"No, why what’s happened?"
"I can't find her." Nicole sighed.
"I'll be right there." He told her and hung up.
Nicole went back into the kitchen to wait when seconds later Jaxon was pounding on the front door. She opened the door to let him in. He paused long enough to ask her what happened.
"Something woke me up so I went to check on Analeigh, to see if she was ok. She wasn't in her room and when I came down stairs the back door was wide open. I didn't know who else to call." She explained to him. More knocking sounded at the door.
"That’s Mason and Sadie. I hope you don't mind but I called them." Jaxon said as he opened the door. He quickly explained to them what was going on.
"Sadie you stay here with Nicole, we are going to get her."
"Get her? You know where she is?" Nicole asked confused. They all looked at one another and Mason answered as he and Jaxon went out the door.
"We have an idea." They disappeared around back.

Analeigh came face to face with the old woman from her dream. She looked just the same maggots and all. There were other people there as well, a big guy in a corner, but he looked more like a child in the face than an adult. A person that had so many deformities that she couldn't be certain what gender it was, it slunk out of the room. The most shocking of all was Dean, she couldn't believe she went against her instincts and let him into her house and now he helped abduct her.

He had strapped her to a chair and left her mouth taped. Another person walked into the room. She was tall and thin with short black hair. She was really beautiful, or could be if she didn't radiate evil from her very being. She looked to be in her mid twenties maybe early thirties. The woman looked at Analeigh and glared. Suddenly there was a deep gash on Analeigh's arm. She tried to cry out. The old woman whipped around to the younger woman.
"Maddison! Leave her, you'll get your chance."
Analeigh looked down at the cut on her arm in confused pain. The woman never got anywhere near Analeigh, how could she have done this she wondered. Analeigh watched her own blood rush out from the wound. The one called Maddison smirked at Analeigh then left the room. The old woman walked over to Analeigh, she tried to move her head as far away from the woman as she could manage. The women smelled so bad it made her gag. She held her breath for as long as she could and tried not to look at her infested face.

The old woman leaned over her arm and put a dirty rag on her cut, then taped it on. Before the woman moved Analeigh noticed fat maggots were falling from the woman's face onto Analeigh's lap. She shrieked and stomped her feet to try to get them off. The old woman huffed and moved away as if insulted by her reaction.

Analeigh looked more closely at the room they had her in, it was dimly lit with just a few candles here and there. Obviously it had once been a dinning room decades ago. The house was completely in ruins. She didn't understand what they were doing here. This must be the house Dean was talking about. That and the fact that it didn't take anytime at all to get here, they must not be that far from her house. She had no way of knowing that, and no way of escaping. She could hear people talking in another part of the house. Someone was moaning loud near by. The old woman walked back to her to replace her blindfold. She protested by shacking her head. Analeigh looked into the woman's eyes, silently pleading with her. The old woman just cackled.
"That will not work on me child, I don't care for you none." Analeigh felt near hysteria when she put the blindfold back over her eyes. She felt dread, she wasn't afraid of dying, she was afraid of what they would do to her before they killed her.

Jaxon stopped just inside the woods behind Analeigh's house.
"Can you see her?" Mason asked him. Jaxon closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on Analeigh. Frustrated he blew out a breath.
"They have done something, I can't see her." Jaxon was starting to panic.
"Well we know where they may have taken her, so lets start there. They won't kill her, Jaxon. They need her." Mason said in an attempt to reassure him. They both headed in the direction of the old house that sat empty in the very middle of the woods.

The one called Maddison came back into the room. Analeigh couldn't see her, but she could hear her arguing with the old lady.
"We have to wait for him." The old woman said. Maddison said something Analeigh couldn't quite hear, then her whole body felt on fire. She screamed through the tape on her mouth. The fire stopped only to be replaced with a severe pain in her head. The pain was so unbearable, she moaned and felt like she would be sick. Oh god the pain, her head was going to split open from it. She faintly heard the old woman curse. Then the pain was gone as quick as it came. Analeigh's head rolled back against the back of the chair, she tried to remain conscious, but without success. The darkness swallowed her.

Jaxon and Mason where at the house now, it was to dark for him to see inside so he relied on Mason's eyes.
"They have two outside." Mason pointed to the front of the house and the back. "There and there."
"Can you see inside?"
Mason inched a little closer. "Yes, I can see three more of them, in the first room. Which way are we going in?" Jaxon looked at Mason.
"The front." Jaxon signaled to Mason the moment he was ready to go.
They both ran up to the house with lightening speed. Jaxon took the first guard by complete surprise and snapped his neck. He entered the house with Mason on his heals. The people inside the first room were a little more prepared. Jaxon recognized all of them and he was sure Mason did too. The woman's name was Maddison Kaige. He knew her to be demonic and cruel. Her husband Trevor was much of the same, he wasn't really a big man but he had the Icarian speed and strength. The third was Dean. Jaxon wasn't that surprised to see him there. He figured out the night of Analeigh’s dinner party that Dean wasn't on their side anymore, if he ever was.