Find Me If You Dare (Dreamcatcher Book 2) (35 page)

Richard ran his thumb across the wound on Nolan’s face, smearing his blood, and stuck his finger in his mouth, licking it clean. My stomach rolled.

He stepped away from Nolan, who stayed glued to the wall. “You know,” Richard started, “You almost had me. For a moment, I thought maybe you’d given up. Maybe you weren’t going to try to trick me, after all. But I feel like I’ve come to know you really well, Daniel. You and I… we’re alike in many ways.” He strode slowly toward me. “We’re passionate, we love hard, and we fight harder. Like me, you’ll do anything to win.”

He knows, Daniel
, Nolan said.

I met his gaze.

He knows I’m not Kayla.

“See, I know for a fact that Kayla has demon blood in her system. Whoever that is”—Richard pointed to Nolan—“they’re clean. So, I’m going to ask you one time: where’s my daughter?”

I stood like a statue, my stare never leaving Richard’s, my legs seconds away from buckling. He could do anything he wanted to me, but I’d never tell him the truth.

Richard sighed. “Kill the other one.”

My eyes shot to Nolan as a Nightmare dug its claws into his chest.

“No!” I screamed, a burning chill slicing through my bones.

This wasn’t supposed to happen
.
This was supposed to work. Why the fuck had we thought this would work?

Nolan’s eyes caught mine. A tear rolled down his cheek.
Tell her I love her, and she was worth it.

The monster ripped its claws through Nolan’s body. The light flipped off in his eyes before he even had a chance to scream, and his insides spilled out, the Nightmare disemboweling him before me.

My knees buckled as I tried to evaporate. But I went nowhere.

Tears pricked the back of my eyes.
Oh, God, Kayla. Forgive me.

“You do realize you just killed your son,” I said through my teeth, glaring at Richard as my hands balled into fists.

“What?” His head spun to where Nolan’s body lay in pieces on the ground. A moment of panic, of sadness, flashed in Richard’s eyes. “No…” His face turned darker, and the wind around us picked up.

The sky above turned tornado gray as lightning flashed across the sky.

Using his powers, Richard lifted me from the ground, choking me with an invisible hand. I clawed at my neck, unable to breathe, hot panic slicing down my spine.

“Last chance, Daniel. Tell me where Kayla is.” Richard’s voice was booming, echoing across the flattened city.

My vision darkened as thoughts of Kayla flashed in my mind—her eyes sparkling as she laughed; the cashmere softness of her lips; the smell of strawberries.

A calmness settled over me. I knew what I had to do. I’d never see Kayla’s smile again, but—God help me—if I was going down, Richard was coming with me.

I smirked, my consciousness almost gone, my voice a mere whisper. “Go… to… hell.” I reached behind me and snatched the handgun from the back of my waistband. In one snappy movement, I shoved the barrel into his stomach and pulled the trigger. Richard fell backward, letting me go.

I toppled to the ground, gasping for air as Richard screamed for his Nightmares to kill me. Taking a chance, I closed my eyes and evaporated.

I landed on my knees in the cabin and collapsed until I lay on my stomach, coughing as stars filled my eyes.

“Somebody get Kayla,” Lian said, putting her hands on my back.

I trembled as my coughing calmed. Nolan’s death played on repeat in my mind until the image of Kayla dying burned into my memory. With my hands on my head, I gagged into the floor, stifling the tears that wanted to break free. Somewhere along the way, I’d grown to like Nolan. But Samantha and Kayla… the wail that would escape them the moment the words left my mouth…

I whimpered.
Oh, God, help me.

I was so cold. A thousand bees stung my heart again and again.

I should’ve let Richard kill me.

The front door to the cabin burst open.

“Daniel?” Kayla dropped to her knees, taking Lian’s place. She touched my back, and I flinched, her caress like a lash from a whip.

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” I spoke into the floor, my nails digging into the back of my neck.

“Why? What happened?”

“You were right. He knew. He knew it wasn’t you.” My voice cracked.

“No…” There were tears in her voice. “No, don’t say it.” Her hands left my back. A
thud
.

I turned my head, my eyes on fire, knowing how much I was going to regret looking at her. Kayla was on her bum, and she’d scooted a few inches away from me. And,
Christ
, the tears were already falling. She knew what was coming, and I was going to break her.

I forced the words out like a strangled whisper. “Nolan’s dead.”

The scream that rocked through her shattered me. More than Tabbi or the thousands of lives that had died since the battle in Columbus, this death would be my undoing.

Nolan would haunt me for the rest of my existence.

Samantha stormed from the cabin, Seth on her heels, as I pushed myself onto my hands and knees, crawling to Kayla’s side. Quietly, Lian shuffled everyone outside.

A tear broke loose from my eye as I pulled Kayla to me, her loud sobs as painful to hear as Nightmares’ shrieks. When her head hit my shoulder, she pushed me away, violently.

“Don’t touch me!” she yelled. “I told you this was a stupid plan, but you didn’t listen to me. And now my brother’s dead! He’s all I had left!” Again, she screamed, tugging on her hair as she rocked back and forth, her face purple as her cries morphed into hyperventilation.

“I know. It’s my fault. God, I know it’s my fault.” I drew her to me again. “I was desperate, and I didn’t think. I’m so sorry, Kayla. I’m so sorry.”

Her fists pounded my chest, but I didn’t let go. I kissed her head, rubbed her back, swayed with her in my arms, whispering words of affection into her hair. A second tear broke free of my failing composure, the image of Kayla’s shredded body flashing in my mind. I closed my eyes as the droplet rolled off my jaw.

Minutes stretched by, each one impregnated with trembling and loud cries. I squeezed Kayla as tightly as I could. She grasped handfuls of my shirt and drenched my shoulder with her tears. My stomach was in knots, so tight I didn’t think I’d be able to eat for weeks. My eyes burned like acid, and I could barely breathe without my chest shaking.

When her cries became sniffles and soft whimpers, I loosened my grip to wipe the tears from her cheeks. Her eyes were so swollen and red as she stared at the floor, refusing to meet my gaze. I grimaced and cursed myself. I’d caused her so much pain.

I pushed strands of dark brown hair from her face and kissed her forehead, letting my cold lips linger on her warm skin. It’d been too long since either of us had spoken; I had to find my voice again. Might as well tell her the rest of the story, the part that could at least give her a glimmer of hope that Nolan didn’t die for nothing.

“I shot him. Richard. Right before I evaporated.”

Finally, she looked at me. “What?” she asked, wiping her nose, her voice scratchy.

I tucked her hair behind her ear. “I don’t know if it killed him, but I know I injured him. The fact that I was able to get back here at all is proof.”

Kayla’s eyes focused, and she moved out of my hug, straightening her legs. “We have to find out. If he’s hurt, he’s vulnerable, right? We can go after him.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

“Do you trust me?”

“You know I do.”

Kayla’s eyes locked with mine, as if she were waiting for me to falter, to give away that I was only saying that to make her feel better. But I was absolutely confident in her; I didn’t have to pretend. We were in this together. I’d done nothing but made a shitty mess of everything, and hell if I was going to stand in her way. It was time I let her take the lead.

She nodded. “Okay, then. I know how we’re going to find out if he’s still alive. I’m going to walk through Richard’s dreams.”

ayla stood next to the fire, poring through the spell one last time. Only Ivan and Lian waited outside with me; the others had fallen asleep hours earlier. The moon was full and high, its white light brightening the sky as far as my eyes could see. To the unknowing soul, the world looked at peace right now, quiet. But to those of us who knew what was about to happen, we braced ourselves for the storm on the horizon.

“Are you ready?” I asked Kayla.

She closed the book. When she looked up at me, her eyes were already molten gold. “Let’s do this.”

I leaned in to kiss her, but she turned her face away.

My stomach fell. I deserved every ounce of her wrath, but damn, it hurt.

“I’ll be right here when you wake,” I said.

Ignoring me, Kayla picked my knife off the ground. To dream walk, a stronger connection with Spirit magic was necessary, which meant blood was required—and a lot more than she’d used so far. Kayla sliced her palm from one side to the other with a wince. As she squeezed her hand over the fire, drops of red trickled into the flames.

“If Richard’s dead, this won’t work,” she said, taking a deep breath. “
Somnus, suscipe. Ut in somnis et Richard Bartlett accipe
.”

Instantly, the flames burned crimson, and a cold breeze ruffled my hair. Kayla’s eyes glowed as bright as car headlights before rolling into the back of her head.

Blast, it was working. Richard wasn’t dead.

Kayla’s body gave out, her consciousness leaving. I caught her before she hit the ground.

As planned, I carried her to the blanket we’d laid next to the fire and bound her wounded hand with gauze.

“I hope she knows what she’s doing,” Ivan said.

“She does,” I replied, bile rising in my throat.

Kayla’s consciousness would stay in limbo until Richard fell asleep. It could be minutes or hours. After that, I had no idea what to expect. All I knew was I couldn’t wake her unless I wanted her mind to be lost forever.

I’d have to trust Kayla would come back to me, her anchor.