Dream Eater (m|m)

Chapter 11

Damien sets off at a pace that leaves me gasping after two blocks, and I lag behind. He notices and waits for me to catch up.

"Are you alright?" he asks.

"Can we walk a little slower? I'm low on energy."

"But you just consumed a dream. Shouldn't you be good for a while?"

I shake my head. "I don't know why, but that dream didn't give me anything."

He looks thoughtful. "The dead zone's about three miles inside the forest. Can you make it?"

It feels like I can't, but there's no use in saying so. "Sure. Just...not at a run. Weak lungs, remember?"

"That wasn't running," he says, but when he starts walking again it's at a speed I can keep up with.

We walk in silence, and the sun climbs slowly as the morning passes and the world gradually warms. We enter the forest, and Damien leads the way to a clearing ringed with trees. When we arrive, I freeze as I recognize the place from the dream.

Damien sees my reaction and looks around in alarm. "What is it?"

"This is where..." I swallow hard. "This is where they caught you."

Damien flinches. "So that's what you saw," he says. He looks around as though seeing a different scene than the one before us, and his eyes have a hollow, haunted look.

"Yes. We were betrayed, though by whom is something I've never been able to learn. The location of the dead zones was a closely guarded secret, known only to Sakariel's inner circle. Most of them are dead or banished now, but enough were able to weasel their way back into favor to make it difficult to know which was the worst traitor."

His hands are clenched into fists at his sides, and a deep anger radiates from him in waves. After a moment, he relaxes with a visible effort. "But that is the past. We must face the problems of the present."

He holds out his hand to me, and blue fire races over his skin.

"Is there a dead zone somewhere near the Riverfront District?" I ask, thinking that the faster I can get to Dante's and collapse, the better.

"No. But we're not going back there anyway."

"What?"

He grabs my hand, and the world dissolves in blue fire.

~xxx~

This time I land on my feet. I don't stay there for long, but I count it as a win anyway.

Collapsing to my hands and knees, I cough violently as Damien pats me unhelpfully on the back. When I can breathe normally again, he helps me up.

"Where the fuck are we now?" I demand, eyeing the surrounding greenery with suspicion. We're in another clearing, only this time the forest at its edges is a lot denser and a lot more...jungle-y.

We're definitely not in England anymore.

"Brazil. There's something I need to know, and the only person who can get the information I need lives here. Fortunately, I was able to send word ahead to him by more earthly means, and he should be waiting for us nearby."

At his words, a man with sienna skin and black hair steps from the forest, dressed in little but a loincloth and headband.

Damien raises his hand in greeting. "Olá, Tiago," he says.

"Damien," the man nods. "Is this the one?"

Damien nods.

"What's going on?" I ask, suddenly alarmed. I start to back away, but Damien catches my wrist and hold me fast.