Dark Flame (Flame 3)
“I don’t know. I thought I felt something from Mary.” She gave herself a shake. “Okay, not sure what that was all about, but Agnes said Mary will need drug rehab immediately. She keeps a nurse on staff in her compound and they’re getting set up for her.”
Brannick needed to know more. “And you’re sure Mary will be safe there. What if Roche comes for her?”
“Agnes has a fortress. She often takes in refugees and right now that’s exactly what Mary is. Roche won’t bother her there.”
“Not even in the dreamglide?”
“Not with Agnes around.”
But once again, Juliet turned almost startled, toward Mary.
“Okay, what the hell is going on?”
Juliet took Brann’s arm. “I think she’s trying to tell me something. Not sure. I need to meet her in the dreamglide. Support me?”
“You got it.” He held his arm out for her and she repeated the sequence in the Village courtyard. He felt her first fall into a meditative state, then she went limp. He caught her up in his arms and held her.
For a long moment, he looked down at her, at the faint freckles on her cheeks, at the curved and quite kissable bridge of her nose, the arch of her brows. Her lips were way too inviting. He was tempted to kiss her, but that’s when he felt her calling to him from the dreamglide. She needed him to join her right now.
He alerted the guard on the patio to tell the entire team to be extra vigilant right now.
He took Juliet into the master bedroom and stretched out on the bed with her, holding her tight. He closed his eyes and relaxed, focusing on Juliet.
With a swift falling sensation, he landed in her dreamglide. The moment he arrived in what was a duplicate version of Juliet’s living room, near her sofa, he could feel exactly why she’d called for him.
Roche.
Only he wasn’t after Juliet. He was trying to take possession of Mary.
Within the dreamy fae environment, Mary was sitting up on the couch, looking dazed and scared. Both hands gripped the front of the sofa cushion.
That’s when Brannick realized he wasn’t in Juliet’s dreamglide at all, but in Mary’s, and Roche was working hard to break through.
He glanced at Juliet. “What do you need me to do?”
She headed to the perimeter of the space. He could feel her building up a protective field for Mary.
“I have to reinforce Mary’s block. It’s not nearly strong enough to withstand Roche and he probably got to her the first time because of it. But Roche is very close, can you feel him?”
Brannick took a moment and turned in a complete circle. “I can.”
“Good, but if he busts in here even in a dreamglide, you’ll need to battle him. Okay?”
“Hell, yeah.” He drew his Glock and held it with his left hand supporting his right from beneath. “Just one question: If someone dies in a dreamglide, do they really die?”
She stared at him for a hard moment then dipped her chin. “Yes. We bleed, we get bruised, cut and hurt and those things stay with us. That’s one reason you heard so many screams in Roche’s club.”
He nodded, feeling angry all over again. “He needs to leave this earth.”
“Yes. He does.”
Brannick once more pivoted in a slow circle. He stayed focused on Roche, while Juliet continued to strengthen the protective block all around Mary’s dreamglide.
She’d gotten three-quarters finished with her task when a sudden flow of air alerted Brannick to the patio edge of the dreamglide.
Just like that, Roche walked through, his red hair flowing away from his feral, smiling face.
Brannick shifted his Glock in Roche’s direction then fired. But Roche was a split-second faster and melted back into the blur of the dreamglide and vanished.