Dark dreams, p.25
Dark Dreams, page 25
So the Goddesses had thought me capable of this; here’s hoping they were right.
Nias saw the giant Dragon coming down at him and couldn’t help but say, “Oh, shit!”
Iblis was now three times his previous size and the claw-like nails of the Angel’s feet were now talons a foot wide and two feet long, with razor-sharp nails to match. They gripped his t-shirt-covered torso and began to tear through him. He winced and groaned as they entered his flesh. But as long as the thing attacked him directly, he at least had a fighting chance. He gripped Jade’s sword again and brought it sideways, creating a gash in its leg, and then pointed it upwards to stab into its underbelly. As the point of the sword drove in with a beautiful chunky slide he felt the winds kick up as Iblis prepared to transcend.
But the wind died suddenly. And Iblis remained. The tip, and then the entirety of the sword, entered his guts. Surprised, Nias pulled the sword out and slammed it back in, full length. The beast roared and began flapping its giant wings as Nias moved out from under it, attaching himself to its neck and again thrust the sword, this time beginning to slice one of the wings from its body.
The dragon screeched and shook him off. But Nias landed on his feet and immediately went back in to strike before it regained its equilibrium.
Nias brandished his weapon and moved like lightning toward Iblis. But the Dark Angel moved even more quickly than Nias. Iblis’s injured wings spread behind him, lifting his form into the sky, and then further and further, where he stopped to hover above them. Iblis let loose a growl, piercing the night like a sonic boom.
The ground was littered with the bodies of wounded and dead. The men who remained standing and fighting froze and looked up to the giant beast.
Jade released the sides of her head and shook out her brain, “This is the part where a gun would have come in real handy,” she said loud enough for everyone to hear, including Iblis himself, who was morphing back into his Dark Angel form.
“Stupid little human, thinking of stupid little human weapons. They don’t hurt the Shaitan – they certainly won’t hurt me.” The anger in his voice fell on them, pressing in its intensity. “You will not be taking my existence from me on this day. And, in fact, by coming to take Nias and undertake this attack, all you have managed to do is begin the war you have been trying to stave off for these hundreds of years since the abandonment of your home. You have just destroyed the only chance you had of coming peacefully back to me.”
“Pretty cocky for a dude who was just on the verge of getting his ass kicked,” Nias called up at Iblis, who had completed his shift. But Iblis ignored his taunting and continued with his diatribe.
“The Djinn will not continue to blight my efforts with the humans, and they shall from this day forward no longer have the freedom to move about above ground without being targets themselves. Surely, Phaeton, new Djinn leader that you are, you know of the risks you were taking coming in here and killing so many of mine. Nias stole my finest creatures from me and now, Phaeton, you are personally responsible for killing hundreds of my Protectors, Guardians, and Watchers. Shaitan whom I use to preserve Sheol in the manner I prefer it.”
Phaeton glared at the floating apparition of evil above them. “If you mean to continue with the torture, affliction, consumption of human flesh, repeating the acts of suicide, then I will gladly take you on. Fuck the balance! It’s time to tip the scales, old man.”
“Sounds like music to me, Phaeton. As does the new way I will have you hunted – all of you. You are a lost race. You may have somehow stopped me, for now, but I will bring my Shaitan back to full strength and come for you.”
Iblis began to laugh again as his wings spread to their full width and he ascended into the dark night’s sky. And, just like that, the battle was over.
Chapter 33
The journey back through Sheol was quick. Having ended the majority of the higher class of Shaitan on their way in through the dark zones, these normally stringently run areas were left in chaos.
The Sentry regrouped within the immense stone walls of the courtyard of the compound when they transcended from the desert. The dirt kicked up around them as they settled in, but Nias was done.
As Phaeton began speaking with him about new tactics the Sentry would need to initiate in order to combat the Shaitan once Iblis had rebuilt a new army, Nias looked into the eyes of Jade, who was already locked on him. Her eyes wandered down his hair to meet his and then began a descent to the lower regions of his body. She had her neck bandaged by Ella on the way back up, and although it was sore, she didn’t feel like paying it any mind at the moment.
“I can see the return of the glare, my Kitten; the glare which has quietly followed my every move since I first saw you.”
She tried to contain the hungry look in her eyes and only managed to create a smirk, which reconfirmed her yearning. Nias turned from his brother and gathered her in his arms and began to kiss her. Phaeton’s protest was lost to the air as he transcended them to his bedroom.
“I was not glaring!” She didn’t even give a solid effort when she tried to stifle the giggle which came to her when the false statement escaped her inviting lips.
His hands began on her hips and he scraped the tips of his slightly outgrown nails up her perfectly formed sides, removing her tank top out of their way. Nias’s lips invaded the seam of her bra, where it met her cleavage and kissed his way over to her lightly fabric-covered nipple, pinching it with his teeth. The sound of her moan caused the already-present hardness between his legs to swell further and he began to walk her backwards toward the bed, where he pushed her body down, never relinquishing the firm contact between them.
“I am considering a previous thought I’ve had,” Nias said, as he pinned her down underneath his body. “In addition to keeping you in this bed with me for at least a month, chaining you to it would have the added benefit of actually keeping you safe.”
She looked up at him drowsy with lust. “Why are you talking? I have so many other things planned for your mouth.”
Nias began to laugh and kissed her again with every bit of passion and the inconceivable love he had for her. He felt her hand move down his body and slip inside his jeans, and it was his turn to moan.
He rose to his knees, his legs still straddling her, and began removing the rest of her clothes, “You are so beautiful, Jade. I will never get my fill of you looking at you.” And then he stripped himself down as well. They spent hours in his bed making love in every way they could conceive and then a few they hadn’t until now.
When she curled into his arms, spent and exhausted, he finally found the courage to tell her what was at the forefront of his mind. “There is no place I feel more comfortable than with you curled and lying in my arms. I love you more than I ever thought it was possible to love a woman. You are my one true mate, Jade.” He paused and turned to stare directly into her eyes. Nias let go of Jade and slid onto the floor, propped on his knees and with his hands holding hers, he continued. “This is too difficult,” he exhaled and forced himself to continue. “I would like for you to spend eternity with me. I want you to become blood-bonded to me. In human terms, Jade, I am wondering if you would consent to becoming my wife. I want you with me always, and I never want to have to let you go again.”
Nias didn’t get a response. In fact, what he got was silence, a complete, utterly void wasteland of silence. Then he felt Jade begin to shake. And her breathing became sporadic.
Jade began to shake and tears welled in her eyes as she looked at this man, this Daemon, and her emotion began to overwhelm her.
“Jade, give me an answer. If you don’t want to bond with a Daemon, it would make perfect sense to me. Why are you crying?”
“Shut up!”
“Excuse me?”
“Did you not hear me say I love you?” She took his face in her hands and brushed a sweet kiss across his lips. “I love you and I would love to be bonded with you. I would love nothing more than to spend eternity in your arms, and raise little bossy Daemons just like you! I love you. But you know, that’s impossible. I’m a mortal human. I’ll get all old and wrinkly and you will still be …” She paused and sighed deeply as she looked at him. “… well, you!”
Nias smiled. “I intend to rectify that situation.”
Epilogue
A light cloud of fog permeated the area Nias entered. Surrounded by a powdery whiteness, enveloped in its ethereal beauty…
What the fuck ever, Nias thought to himself. The Goddesses may be on the other side of this war from Iblis, but they were no less dramatic with their insistence for an overdone scene.
Coughing slightly, he waved the fog away from his face and looked up to take in the immense white doors. Their tops disappeared into the increasingly dense misty, cloudy, powdery, whatever it was that always hung on tightly to the entrance of the realm of Arcadia.
He had every intention of blasting his way through these gates and telling the Goddesses how it would be. But now, standing here, about to enter, the enormity of what he was about to ask for, of what he would lose if he were denied, hung with such importance to his heart, that he couldn’t move.
He thought about the love he had for Jade and the reciprocal, unabashed glee with which she looked into his eyes these days, and reaffirmed his decision. Being a pussy right now wasn’t going to be his course of action. His Kitten had walked into situations beyond reason for a human, conquered them, laughed while kicking ass, and become nothing but stronger through her journey. She is truly dazzling. These women are just going to have to accept the way things are going to be. I am keeping her, forever.
He placed his hand on the large crystal knocker. The doors swung open and, as before, the three Goddesses Jibreel, Eeia, and Aquila stood, the edges of their clothing, skin, and hair appearing in a wavering shimmer, positioned upon their pedestal at the end of the long, bright, otherworldly pathway.
“Nias, please step forward.” The temples of Arcadia loomed, the intricate weaving art that was their façade creating a towering beauty, which spread as far as the eye could see behind the radiant females. His strides created a puff and separation of misty vapor with each step, until he was before them.
Nias was not in the mood for the formality with which they liked these meetings to progress. He fisted his hands and placed them into the back pockets of his jeans, exhaling and trying to calm himself a bit.
Jibreel spoke. “It is a pleasure to see you back before us. Joss home safely, the balance seems restored.” Yeah, that blew the calm thing right out of the water.
“Restored?” Nias all but roared his disbelief. “I cannot believe I just heard you say that. Either you like to make happy chatter or you Goddesses have misplaced your crystal ball! Restored is the furthest thing from where things stand, Jibreel!” The glowing silver-haired beauty all but physically twitched as her mouth fell open.
“NIAS!” A crashing boom of a voice came from Eeia at Jibreel’s side. “You have been warned about talking to Jibreel, or any Goddess, in such a way. I thank you for your service and bid you a long-overdue goodbye.” Eeia began to lift her hand to the air and strike him with a wave of her hand that would end his existence, or at least try to.
His eyes darted towards hers and squinted his threat before the words began to leave his lips in a measured growl. “Don’t …even…think about it.”
She froze at the challenge and he continued. “Either Arcadia has completely lost touch with what is going on out there or you just want Sodom and Gomorrah. Open your eyes to the big picture, ladies. Nothing is restored. Shit has hit the fan and it is deteriorating quickly.”
Aquila spoke calmly, as if she had all in control and Nias had simply been misinformed. The third Goddess had remained silent during Nias’s last visit and rarely spoke at all.
“The way we see it, Iblis’s armies have been contained, the numbers he once had decimated when the Djinn went in to retrieve you. We had thought to simply keep the status quo, but Phaeton’s movement into Sheol with the Sentry destroyed Iblis’s numbers. We couldn’t be more pleased, and look.” She swirled thin, feminine fingers through the mist as if stirring the air and a vision of Joss and Rachel in the great room back at the compound appeared before them. “Your brother and even this female you are so fond of are back safely above ground.”
Nias was stunned. He had rarely heard such a long speech from the quiet, redheaded Goddess and as such was taken aback. Plus there was the simple fact of how out of touch they were. They seemed to have no idea what was about to be unleashed. But he was getting derailed from the real reason he was here. He took a deep breath and plunged in. “There is still the matter of Jade Shear. I wish to discuss her future.”
Jibreel held up her hand. “Enough. Nias, you sometimes … what is the human expression … ‘wear your heart on your sleeve.’ You would come here and ask something of us after the way you continue to berate us? Your insolence knows no bounds.” Then she allowed herself a slight half-smile. “Besides, you do not need to ask what has already been granted.”
Nias tilted his head. Was she saying what he thought she was saying? “You mean … ?”
Eeia rolled her eyes. “The instant she received the gifts, immortality came with them. Now we can always try to take them back …” She observed Nias’s tense reaction and got some satisfaction from it … “but I don’t think that will be necessary.”
Nias blinked a few times in disbelief, filled with a sudden, nearly uncontrollable, urge to get back to Jade and at least attempt to make love to her for the rest of eternity. “If that’s the case … then I suppose there is nothing more to discuss.” He tilted his head slightly in their direction and transcended home almost immediately.
Eeia sighed and looked to her sister Jibreel. “I still don’t know what you see in the Djinn. They are arrogant, condescending, haughty, impudent, reckless …”
Aquila interrupted her. “And our best hope in the coming storm – and you know it.”
Jibreel looked at her auburn-haired sister. “How do you think Nias will react when he learns the truth about his brother?”
Aquila’s eyes swirled the same bright red as her hair. “We should be more worried about how his brother will react when he learns the truth about himself …”
Acknowledgements
Dawn:
To Meredith Hanna who picked me up a thousand times dusted me off and set me back on my way.
To Aaron Speca without whom the jumble of words that was Dark Dreams would not have been shaped into the magnificent adventure it has become.
Aaron:
Wendy, Leisha, and Jammie, for dragging me into this world of creative writing in the first place. Patricia, for always having a word of encouragement and having my back on every project I’ve ever taken. Torie, for being out there and showing me it really can be done and for paying it forward like nobody’s business. Dawn M., for being my first fan and following me all this time. And of course, Dawn T., for having the vision to create this world in the first place and for inviting me to be part of this adventure.
To everyone I did not mention, I hope you know who you are, and how much you have meant to this entire process. I can never thank you enough.
Dawn Treadway & Aaron Speca
Dawn Treadway is the author of the award winning flash fiction story "The Prisoner". Presently she can be found in beautiful coastal California, with her exceptional children, Cooper and Waylon, and two orange feline beasts. Dawn holds a Bachelor's of Science in Nursing and works in Mental Health. When not actively enjoying dark dreams, she is otherwise cultivating her love of everything dark, gothic and sexy as Hell.
Aaron Speca is an “accidental author” who fell into creative writing at the age of 39, joining a writing group at the behest of his wife and her friends. Since then, he has published two short stories with writing partner Patricia Laffoon, and is co-author with Dawn Treadway on the novel Dark Dreams: Progeny of Sin. He currently resides in Virginia with his wife, three children, and a precocious Boston terrier.
@TreadwayDawn
@AaronSpeca
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Dawn Treadway, Dark Dreams
