Shadow Guardians: The Key

Katherine felt her legs move her forward into the eerie portal, a purple-black maw of mystery. A flash of light, and she found herself in a gloomy, dark realm. Thunder roared through the sky, and she had a feeling that it was there perpetually. Here, the rays of the sun did not reach the ground.

The ground was ashen, and the skeletons of trees reached into the heavens, begging for the mercy of light. An unseen threat lurked nearby. She felt threatened, but she knew that this was another one of her strange dreams. She waited and listened for the demon screeches. But the only thing her ears could detect was the rolling lightning in the dark clouds overhead.

Then her legs started moving to the west. She was freaked out the first time her body moved without her mind commanding it, but now she had come to expect it in these kinds of dreams. It was a good thing, really, since Katherine wouldn’t know the way otherwise.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a massive square structure appeared before her, as if there was a tear between realms that allowed it to be seen. She couldn’t see what was inside the box, cage, or whatever it was, only knew she had to do one thing.

She had to unlock it.

And she had a small amount of time to do it before being discovered by the enemy. These dreams always carried a sense of urgency. Time was running out. Tick Tock.

Katherine moved closer to the lock, which was unlike anything anyone would ever see on earth. It was a square cavity in the cage with a collection of thirteen ever-shifting small stones. Mind-bogglingly, the combination shifted along with them all the time.

But through her eyes, she saw the path to unlocking them as an illumination of white light, a trail, guiding her fingers. Whatever was inside the cage became restless as she started solving the stone puzzle, anxious to be freed, like she was anxious to finish. Because behind her in the distance, she could hear the approaching hoard. She moved as fast as she could.

The locking mechanism opened, and the cage disappeared, only to be replaced with another. And after she had unlocked this one, more would follow.

She’d unlocked five of them, the last one with trembling fingers as a hoard of white zombie-like creatures swarmed her. The first of them grabbed her by the shoulder and tossed her away from the cages. Her breath caught, and she retreated backwards on the ground on her elbows. She had no weapons here. And they were too many for her alone. Hundreds.

Just as they were about to smother her, incinerating flames spewed up from the ground before her. The last thing she saw was Fyre shielding her with his wings from the onslaught.

She woke with a start and a scream trapped in her throat, eyes wide in the dark. There was little fear left of the demons after her transition, but there was a very real sense of vulnerability without her weapons in the dreams. She lay in the dark, listening to the loud beating of her heart in the black stillness.

As she calmed down, she became aware of the heat against her hip, the slow, even breathing against her back. A smile crossed her lips. Jeez, even in his sleep, he wanted her. And all it took was for her to say no, and his lust would back down like a well-behaved dog. It was at her command. She was lording over him in that department. And Ophelia had it just the same.

In the last four months since her change, she’d come to realize there was nothing vampire males wouldn’t do for their females. It seemed that keeping her happy was suddenly the most important thing in the world.

Magnus shifted behind her, sending heat flaring and dissolving the dregs of the dream. It was all over then. As soon as Katherine started feeling aroused, he smelled it on her.

Katherine’s lips parted in yearning as he made a rumbling noise deep in his throat, his hand going from her arm to her waist, down. She uttered a little moan as he touched her there. Still probably half asleep, he rolled her over and mounted her, a thick thigh coming against hers.

She gasped as his lips found her throat and sucked on her skin, the craving draws causing her body to heat, and her fangs to extend at the idea of taking his very life blood into herself. A dark need unwrapped in her, the sensation deepening when his bonding scent started permeating the air.

“Are you awake?” She whispered breathily.

“I am now,” he answered against the skin of her throat.

“You’re thirsty,” she murmured, her hand cordially coming around the hard muscles of his back. She could hear it in the way he swallowed, feel it in the hard sucking he did in her neck.

He joined with her, desire releasing a gasp from both of them. The taste of her drowned him in bliss. She gripped his torso in reflex as she fell.

He kept going, riding out her ripples with her, until his own release slammed into him, then dropped his head and broke the seal of the vein in her neck. She did the same. The sting of her bite multiplied the ecstasy, and he groaned as he took lengthy, satisfying pulls of her rich blood. Like a fine wine...

His body went slack as she took from him too, pleasure overpowering all sense. Whatever had woken her, they were going to sleep like babies again after this.

After, she lay with her head on his chest, his arm around her.

“You were in there again,” he said.

“I opened five this time,” she answered, running circles with her fingers over his belly, “but I think I was in another realm again. It was dark, stormy. There wasn’t a whole lot of barbecuing going on. Fyre was there. Does he always just pop up all over the place like that?”

Magnus inhaled deeply and blew out the breath through his mouth. He didn’t particularly delight in Katherine going into the Abyss in her dreams all by herself and without a single weapon. It made him twitchy, and he didn’t know who to blame for the situation. They didn’t know if her dreams were real or just manifestations. If they were real, there was a real risk she could go completely insane if the angels didn’t get to her in time.

“Yeah. Fyre is one of the commanders of the armies. He has teams in more than one ether realm. I’ve never been to the one you’re describing, though.” Which naturally pissed him off even more since he had no idea what she was facing in there. “I wish there was a way of keeping you out of there, to be honest.”

Katherine went quiet for a minute. She knew they were all worried about the freaky ass dreams. But she felt like she was doing something important in them. She wished she had the time to get answers. But they were always so urgent, a life-and-death kind of situation.

“I mean,” Magnus continued, “we don’t even know if or how any of them are helping the situation. I can’t see what the point is.”

“And you’re afraid I might go insane for nothing?” she finished.

She felt him stop breathing beneath her cheek. Then he exhaled. Maybe saying she’d go insane wasn’t such a good idea.

“We haven’t been able to find anything on any of this in the Chronicles so far. And hell, if there’s nothing in there, there’s no hope of knowing. I mean, those books are probably as old as creation itself.”

She shrugged her shoulder underneath his big hand. “There are still seventeen volumes left. Plus all the books from the library, and that demonology expert in South America.”

Magnus didn’t have much faith in the volumes of the public library or in a human expert. But every avenue was worth pursuing to put an end to Father Darkness’ reign. And hopefully, finding answers to her freaktastic dreams.

She rubbed his abs. “I know you’re worried, but even though it’s terrifying, I have faith in there. They always come to pull me out. I just wish I knew what I was freeing.

This one... I had the sense that there was something big in the cage. Nothing human-looking. A creature. But I couldn’t see it. I also didn’t feel like it was evil. It just wanted out. I mean, Fyre did tell me to open the gates. And I seem to magically know all the combinations now. Maybe whatever is in there is helping, but we just can’t see it.”

“Yeah.” Was all Magnus said, and he pulled his arm over his eyes. Goddamnit. He wished Fyre could just appear here so he could tell him what the hell was going on. But the gods’ powers are spread thin. And Fyre had to command the armies. He couldn’t come to the earth realm. He just had to trust him with his meeran, didn’t he? And that was ripping his guts out.

The sleeping like a baby thing was totally not going to happen right now. Not with a bunch of unfounded/founded jitters plowing through his circuits like an eighteen-wheeler. He needed to work his mind. Magnus shifted out from underneath Katherine.

“Where are you going?” She asked, propping herself up on her elbow.

Magnus willed a candle on the far side of the dark room to life. “I’m going to get coffee, then I’m going to be einsteining it in the library.” He said, pulling on pants he’d taken from the armoire.

Katherine watched as the slight flicker of the candle cast shadows over the rigid muscles of his back. Then she rose and slipped out of bed herself. “I’m coming with you.”

She wasn’t concerned with her dreams, was more into searching for connections between the churches that had been getting hit by the big evil bastard. That was main for her and Ophelia, while Magnus was investigating her dreams and Zachiel and Draven were trying to find past connections to Father Darkness.

He shook his head as he pulled on a silk dress shirt. “You should sleep, get your rest.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, like I’m staying in here without you. We’re past the locking me in the room part, babe. Besides, I want hot chocolate.”

Magnus smirked at her. “And hot chocolate you shall have, female of mine.”

“Aren’t you the perfect man-slave?” She joked, getting dressed in a sky blue sweater and jeans.

“Anything for you. Next time, we can bring out the cuffs and ballgags for me.”

“Whoo, kink!” She waggled her brows.

They left their digs, and the candle snuffed out on its own.