Nightwolf

“Sorry I…was I loud? Was I screaming?”

I shake my head. I rarely get to see her like this. Disheveled, unsure. Scared. That vulnerability is coming through strong, and the more it does, the more I want to step in, get closer to her. Shield her from anything that would make her feel so small and fragile.

It makes me feel like maybe she might need me after all.

“You weren’t screaming and you weren’t loud. But you know my hearing.” I’m not about to tell her that I saw a ghost, one that was headed to her room. That’s the last thing she needs to hear.

“Oh. Good.” She gives me a small smile, her eyes starting to relax a little, finding strength. “What was I saying?”

I clear my throat. “Don’t leave me.”

“Oh,” she says, then pouts, frowning. “I don’t know, I don’t remember it. I think I did when I woke up but…”

“It doesn’t matter,” I tell her. “I’m a fan of not remembering my dreams, bad or good. Dreams become memories. After a while it becomes hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t. I mean, when you’ve lived for as long as I have.”

Another small smile. This is the one where she’s feeling a little foolish, probably because of the dream, probably because she’s just in a pajama top and underwear. I don’t read minds, but I am an empath of sorts.

It means it’s time for me to go.

I get to my feet before I do something stupid like touch her again. “I better get to sleep. Let you get back to a better dream.” I pause. “Want me to leave the door open?”

She shakes her head. “No, that’s okay.”

I nod and head toward the door.

“Wolf,” she calls out softly as I’m about to close it.

I pause in the doorway. “Yeah?”

She presses her lips together and it’s like my heart might explode. “Thank you for waking me up. For being here.”

And that’s when I realize that whatever weird thing happened last night on account of me and my jealousy doesn’t matter anymore. We’ve moved past it.

Perhaps Solon was wrong about everything. Maybe we’re going to be okay, just as we are. Nothing has to change.

“You’re welcome,” I tell her, then close the door behind me as I leave.

Chapter 6

Amethyst

I had the dream again last night. Ironically, it wasn’t the dream that Wolf woke me up from. I don’t remember that one. Instead, it happened after he left my room. I remember lying back, my heart racing, my skin clammy from sweat, though it was hard to tell if my body’s reactions were because of my nightmare or the fact that Wolf was in the warm dark of my bedroom, his fingers grazing my face, his voice soft with worry.

I had heard the floorboards creaking from up above, knowing that Wolf was back in his bed, and then I started to fall asleep again.

Only to wake up what felt like seconds later to that feeling of something heavy on my chest. Not just a feeling of not being able to breathe, but the actual sensation of something very real and solid sitting on top of me. The darkness filled my vision and I knew I wasn’t alone in the room anymore.

There was something in the room with me.

Watching me.

Keeping me down.

And in the background, far away, I heard that lullaby.

“…strip you to your bones.”

Then the thing on my chest moved, as if stepping off me and onto the bed, because I felt the bed move too, until it was gone.

Maybe under the bed?

Suddenly I could breathe again but that didn’t make it any less scary.

Because the woman in the hospital gown?

She was standing in the corner of my room, faintly illuminated by the light of the moon.

Facing the wall.

Like out of the fucking Blair Witch Project. Just facing the wall in the corner and the more I stared at her in horror, my scalp prickling with panic and fear, the more I realized her back was covered in blood. Not dried blood but actively flowing blood that poured down her shoulders and spine, turning the hospital gown black, shining under the glints of moonlight.

I don’t know what happened next. I think I may have just passed the fuck out because the next thing I knew, dull morning light was coming in through the windows, and I heard the muffled sound of birds chirping, which I welcomed as relief, a tonic to the soul after a long, scary night.

It also meant I slept in way later than normal.

“Well, look who it is,” my mom says to me as I stagger into the kitchen in my house coat, pushing my messy hair out of my face. “Another bad night?”

Bleary-eyed, I look at her, then at Solon and Wolf, who are also in the kitchen to my surprise, gathered around the espresso machine. For creatures that definitely don’t need caffeine, they seem as addicted as us humans.