Dream Eater (m|m)

Chapter 17

I expect post-sex awkwardness, but Damien moves right past it and doesn't look back. 

Something's changed between us, though, and despite my determination to keep feelings out of it, little glimmers of happiness keep sparking in my chest whenever he touches me or looks my way.

And it pisses me off.

Damien's the last guy I want to fall for. He's a pushy, dangerous asshole, and he's got more baggage than the cargo deck of a 747.

He's also a patient, thoughtful, and attentive lover. Not to mention hot as fuck.

I know he only cares about me because of the Key, but when he laughs at the stupid things I say, or explores my body with pleasure and admiration, I can almost convince myself he's seeing Alex Shade, and not just a shade of someone else.

His dreams change, too, and for the first time since I met him, he has a nightmare that isn't based on a memory. I know, because I'm in it.

In the dream, I watch myself through his eyes as I walk towards an enormous stone arch. I call to myself to stop and come back, but I don't listen. There's a blinding light, and I'm gone. For a dream not from memory, his pain is surprisingly intense.

After the fourth time I wake up with a tear-stained pillow, I ask him about it.

"It's a Doorway," he tells me, tiredly. "You're seeing yourself open it with the Key."

"But...where do I go?" I ask.

He gives me a look. "Heavenly Keys are destroyed when they're used to open a Door. That's why Sakariel knew he would die whether the rebellion succeeded or not. If he'd managed to open a Door, he'd have been consumed by it."

"Oh."

I guess that explained why he was so tragic all the time.

"Well, stop worrying about it," I say. "Even if I could, I don't plan on opening any doors."

~xxx~

Later that morning, I discover I have other reasons to worry, and they're a lot closer at hand.

Allannan summons Damien to see her, and I go along because no one says not to. When we enter her study, she looks grim.

"Allannan, has something happened?" Damien asks.

She looks between him and me, and for a moment I wonder if she's going to ask me to leave, but then she speaks. 

"Last night, someone attempted to break into the residential wing of the estate. They got away, but they left this behind."

She lifts a small cloth bag from her desk and tosses it to Damien. He catches it and looks through it. His expression grows sour.

"Poison, blades, rope--an assassin, then."

Allannan nods.

"He also had this." She hands him a small scrap of paper. 

He frowns and shows it to me, and I recognize a crude map of the building. Our room is marked in red. 

"It seems he was after either you or Alex. But the most disturbing thing is what my guard managed to snatch from around his neck."

She holds out a pendant on a string. Damien goes still.

"What is it?" I ask. It looks like an X in a circle.

"The cross of the Vanguard," Damien says. "Oran's elite crew."

He stands. "I will discover what is behind this, Allannan. I apologize if we've brought trouble to your house."

She shakes her head. "I'm not worried about my house, Damien. I'm worried about those within its walls."