Sin on a Dark Knight

Chapter 16 - Mikael

I'm walking through the city and the sky looks strange. It seems red but it isn't sunrise or sunset. I don't recognize the area I am walking through. The buildings are tall and nondescript. People are walking past and they don't seem to see me. I come to a break in the buildings, turning my head I see Jasmine standing in the middle of a stream. I walk toward her and the world changes around me. Before me Jasmine stands in the stream still. On the far side of the stream I see a meadow and in the distance a small town. Behind me is a shining city bustling with activity, the sidewalk I am on stops at the stream. To either side of the sidewalk the land is blasted. A wasteland of death on this side of the stream, except for the shining city behind me.

I walk the rest of the way to Jasmine, why is she standing in the stream? I reach her and she lifts her head to smile radiantly at me. I reach out to caress her face and she places her palm flush with mine before I can. Mildly annoying but I'll let it slide. I look up from our hands and she turns her smile on Leonidas who has appeared on the other side of the stream.

He puts his hand up and she places her palm flush to his. I try to move my hand to pull her to me but I can't move. Jasmine turns her face to the sky and screams in pain, tears flowing down her face. I try to move, my muscles don't respond. I growl in frustration, my eyes meet Leonidas's and he smirks at me.

Jasmine's scream fades and she turns tear-filled eyes to me, "Good-bye Mikael."

Her hand leaves mine and she steps to Leonidas. He pulls her into his arms, his smug face turned to watch me. I can finally move and then I am falling, the ground beneath me gone as I watch them disappear. I hit the ground hard and I jump up, what is this place? It looks like ruins of some sort. How did I get here? I turn a slow circle taking in the details, verdant greenery everywhere, once stately and modern buildings falling to pieces. I see a sidewalk leading out of this place into a huge grassy meadow. I follow the sidewalk to its end outside the city where it stops at a small stream, just like the one Jasmine stood in... I look up and in the distance I see a small town.

My eyes fly open as I sit straight up in the bed. My bedding is destroyed from my thrashing, blanket and sheet somehow on either side of the bed. I realize I am breathing hard, as if I had run for miles. I focus on my breathing, slowing it and calming myself.

That dream was so real. And Jasmine appeared to me as she is now, not as she was when we were wed. A shame, I really liked that form. But this dream. It felt too real. I know that the wizard was able to occasionally see into the future, is the power I stole from him trying to warn me of impending trouble?

Is Jasmine really thinking about being with that gang banger Leonidas Knight? I think back over the dream, after she crossed the stream to him was when the dream went to hell... That's it! It's warning me that my life will never be the same if I let her go now. I have to woo her, she can't be allowed to choose him over me. She would be a fool to choose him anyway. Helping her see that should be cake and I love cake.

* * *

Much later I pull up to Jasmine's trailer. I put the window down and while I smell the remnants of the party had by the trailer up front recently, I can tell Jasmine isn't here. If I want to talk to her tonight I'll have to go to the club. Club Amnesia. I hate that she works there. The place is awful and the people there are trash. I can't tell her that, I think as I look around the place she chooses to live. Backing out of her driveway I point the car toward the club. I don't know if I can bring myself to wait inside. I think I'll just wait near the back, if I park down the street no one will notice me or bother me. It is only a couple hours or so till she gets done there. The only benefit I see to that place is the ready access to blood she has from patrons requesting private sessions.