Nightmares (The Coven, Book 1)

by Erica Stevens

  Remain calm, she told herself. Just remain calm.

  She was so focused on putting one foot in front of another that when the water shifted and blurred, she wasn’t sure if she’d actually seen something or imagined it. The seconds ticked endlessly by as the air grew thicker and the scent of burnt rubber filled it.

  “That can’t be a good sign,” Alex said.

  Then, as if it were a sewer pipe exploding and releasing its sludge all over the streets, a gush of black erupted from the drainage hole. Avery froze as the rush of black separated itself into dozens of creatures flowing out through the pool. Some of them looked like octopuses with their tentacles streaming behind them, while others resembled jellyfish blobs, and some had crab-like pinchers.

  When Alex stumbled back, Avery grasped his arm to halt his flight. “We have to do this; you have to face this. It’s the only way he’ll let us out of here,” she said.

  His eyes rolled, and for a second, she thought he might still try to flee, but then he focused on her and straightened his shoulders. Avery released him and, together with Rosie, they waded deeper into the pool as the creatures spread out around them.

  Something slimy brushed her leg, and she bit her lip to keep from screaming. She forced herself to keep going as a black, swarming mass that squirmed throughout the pool replaced the crystal blue water.

  Even if they wanted to flee, they couldn’t as thick black tentacles with suckers the size of dinner plates encircled the railing of the stairs. The black blob attached to those tentacles pulled itself onto the stairs, and its body pulsated while it lay there. They could try swimming to the edges and pulling themselves out, but she doubted they’d be able to free themselves from the water before something pulled them back in again.

  She hadn’t believed it possible, but this was worse than the trophy room. At least there, she’d seen their attackers coming; she had no idea what these things were plotting or doing beneath the water.

  Alex stood three feet away from her; his eyes were wild and his face taut as he stared into the swirling depths. “Alex,” she said in the hopes of drawing his attention. “Alex.” Finally, he looked at her. “Keep moving; we’ll get through this.”

  “Where’s the door?” Rosie cried.

  Avery tore her gaze away from Alex, and her eyes narrowed. She strained to see through the black mass, but it had become impossible to see more than five inches in front of her, let alone the door.

  “What do we do now?” Alex panted.

  Something slimy enclosed on Avery’s leg and slithered toward her waist. She reached into the water and grasped the tentacle clinging to her. Clawing at its slick, rigid skin, she couldn’t get a firm hold on it before the thing jerked downward.

  “Help!” she cried.

  When it jerked again, it ripped her off balance and pulled her down. Water plunged over her head and rushed into her mouth before she clamped it closed. She kicked to break free of the titanic grasp, but its grip didn’t ease.

  Her lungs started burning, and when the creature drug her deeper into the water, stars exploded behind her closed eyelids. It took everything she had to keep her mouth closed against the impulse to inhale, but if she didn’t get air soon, she would start breathing in water.

  Avery’s arms flailed as she tried to claw her way toward the surface, but it was useless. She was going to breathe, and when she did, she would die.

  When hands seized hers, she enclosed her fingers around them as someone tugged her toward the surface, but the monster holding her wouldn’t let go. Caught between them, the creature and hands pulled at her like she was a wishbone until, with a jerk, the hands tore her free and hauled her to the surface. She burst free, and air surged into her tortured lungs as she coughed and spat out the water she’d swallowed.

  “Are you okay?” Alex demanded as he grasped her arms.

  Still inhaling like she’d never had air before, Avery lifted her head to stare into Alex’s onyx eyes. Rosie stood beside him; her face pinched with apprehension as she gazed at Avery.

  “Avery?” Rosie asked.

  “I’m fine,” Avery managed to choke out. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime,” Alex said.

  Avery lifted her arms out of the water and froze at the sight of the dozens of black, squirmy things cleaving to her skin. Three inches long, their tails wiggled as they tried to burrow beneath her flesh. When one of them turned toward her, she saw its mouth was an oval filled with hundreds of tiny teeth.

  A scream rose in her throat and came out as a strangled gurgle when bile filled her mouth. Somehow, she managed to keep from upchucking onto Alex and Rosie, but she couldn’t move to get them off herself, and the idea of touching one made her stomach churn.

  Alex went to grab one but froze when he saw the leeches covering him. Now that she wasn’t quite as panicked, she spotted a couple on his neck too. More bile rose in her throat as one of the bigger things brushed her leg again.

  Rosie cried out, and water splashed into Avery’s face when Rosie vanished into the murky depths.

  “Rosie!” Avery cried.

  She forgot about the leeches as she half swam, half ran in the direction her friend had vanished. Spitting out water, Rosie bobbed up again before plummeting under once more. Avery dove forward to grasp Rosie’s wrist, but something tangled around her leg and tore her backward.

  “Alex! Do something!” Avery shrieked.

  The water slapped her in the face when she was pulled under again. Kicking at the creature, she somehow managed to free herself and broke out of the water in time to see Rosie reemerging. Alex’s eyes narrowed in concentration before she was pulled below once more.

  CHAPTER 24

  Avery kicked against the thing holding her, but this time, it wouldn’t let go. Fisting her hands together, she lifted them and battered the thick tentacle, but it was as effective as a baby’s punch against a shark.

  Her release came so suddenly it took her a second to realize she was free. When she did, she shoved off the bottom of the pool and swam toward the surface. Bursting free, she spit out the water clogging her mouth and nose; she treaded water as she wiped the stringy, wet hair from her eyes. Rosie’s loud coughing echoed through the room.

  “Are you guys all right?” Alex demanded.

  “Just dandy,” Rosie muttered before pulling a dead leech from her arm; her nose wrinkled as she held it away from her. Whatever Alex had done to save them had also killed the leeches.

  Trying not to acknowledge what they were, Avery brushed the lifeless leeches from her arms. Sucker marks and blood indicated the places where they’d been. She gritted her teeth to keep from screaming when she tugged out one that had started to burrow beneath her skin; she flung it away.

  “Took you long enough,” Rosie said to Alex.

  “Stuff it, Rosie,” Alex replied. “Come on, let’s get out of here before those things come back.”

  Peering into the pool, Avery spotted the door with the mass of black monsters swirling ten feet away from it as Alex held them back. She didn’t know how long Alex could keep them away, and she didn’t want to stick around to find out.

  They dove into the water and swam for the bottom. Alex made it to the door first and thrust it open. A sucking whirlwind pulled them out of the pool.

  • • •

  Avery hadn’t known what she expected, but it certainly wasn’t to land in the middle of what felt a little bit like Heaven to her battered body. She stared at the hole in the ceiling as Alex and Rosie landed beside her with a grunt. She waited for water to cascade over them, but the hole closed before a horde of pool creatures could escape.

  Sure nothing was going to come through the ceiling, Avery rolled to the side and sat up to take in her surroundings. When she realized she was sitting on a bed the size of her living room, she scurried to the edge of it and shoved herself off. Her sore and battered legs nearly gave out, but she didn’t care as she staggered away from the bed before spinning to face it. />
  Rosie and Alex were exiting the other side of the four-poster bed taking up almost a quarter of the massive room. Its bloodred comforter was pulled back to reveal its numerous pillows and red silk sheets. She resisted crawling back to the bed and climbing onto the downy mattress to get off her feet for a few minutes, but she had the uneasy notion this was Regan’s room, and she didn’t want to be anywhere near his bed.

  Feeling like a drowned rat in her clinging T-shirt and shorts, she took inventory of her injuries. Her left leg had a large welt around her thigh and calf. The suckers of the pool creature had left red circles in the middle of the welt and her right leg still bore claw marks from the monster in the trophy room. She scanned the rest of her body for remaining leeches, but she didn’t see any. Still, she couldn’t rid herself of the feeling they were on her.

  “Are they gone?” she asked as she pulled her shirt up and turned so Rosie and Alex could inspect her back. She didn’t care if they saw the black bra she wore; they were beyond modesty in this place.

  “Yes,” Alex answered.

  She tugged her shirt down again. “I can feel them everywhere.”

  “So can I,” Rosie said.

  Gazing around the rest of the room, Avery took in the thick red drapes covering the windows, white walls, and sconces with tapered red candles in them. A minivan-sized armoire was across the way, and a large, teak desk sat in the corner. Spread out across the desk was a roll of parchment, and a quill stuck out of an inkwell next to it. Whatever Regan was, he was caught in days gone by, or maybe all spiritual planes lacked modern comforts like electricity and pens.

  Knowing they should get the hell out of here, Avery still couldn’t resist creeping closer to the desk. Her legs throbbed with every step she took, but she steeled her resolve and kept going. On her tiptoes, she held her breath as she leaned over the desk to see what was written on the parchment; disappointment filled her when she saw it was blank.

  Dropping down, she turned to find Alex and Rosie’s gazes locked questioningly on her; she shook her head, and their shoulders slumped. Avery tried to run a hand through her wet hair, but her fingers caught on the tangles.

  “We should check the armoire,” Rosie said.

  Avery walked across the room to the armoire and pulled open the doors. Hanging inside was an assortment of button-down shirts ironed to perfection. All the reds were with the reds, the whites with the whites, and so on. Dress pants and jeans also hung within as well as sports coats and a couple of tuxedos that she bet looked amazing on Regan.

  As soon as she thought it, she hated herself for it. They may not know what Regan was, but he was evil, she felt that all the way to the marrow of her bones. Strange pull or not, she had to stay away from him.

  Reid.

  She conjured the image of his face in her mind. Warmth spread through her extremities as she recalled the familiar crinkle around his eyes and the way his lips turned up more on the right when he smiled at her. Her palms warmed as if his calloused hands were holding hers, and her lips tingled as she remembered the sweetness of his kiss.

  Regan possessed some power over her mind, but Reid held a place in her heart, and she had to recall that the next time she saw Regan. And she would see him sooner rather than later.

  “There’s no one here,” Avery said as she closed the doors and turned back to Alex and Rosie. Her sneakers sloshed with every step she took toward them.

  “No one but us witches.”

  Avery stumbled over her feet and almost fell when she whirled toward the bed. Regan lay on it with his back propped against the pillows and his hands clasped in his lap. He looked like an elegant, indolent panther as he gazed at them with laughter in his electric eyes.

  Avery hurried to join Rosie and Alex by the door as Regan climbed off the bed and rose to his full, imposing height. When he stepped toward them, they all stepped back. He smiled lazily as he pinned Avery with his penetrating eyes.

  Despite her best intentions, his graceful beauty fascinated her. His power could scorch the life from them if they got too close, but her fingers itched to touch him and feel it flowing over her again.

  The passion blazing to life in his eyes turned them a deeper blue as he perused her with a look that left her feeling boneless. “How do you like the game so far?” he asked.

  They remained silent as they stared at him in amazement.

  “I hope my friends didn’t hurt you.” His voice was a melodic purr as he glanced at her legs.

  “No.” Avery was surprised, and pleased, her voice didn’t waver. “They didn’t.”

  It was a lie, and judging by his smirk, he knew it.

  “They were told not to harm you, but they got the wrong person.” His eyes slid pointedly to Alex before returning to her. “I care about what happens to you, but if a few are lost during the game, then so be it.”

  Avery started to protest, but Regan vanished as quickly as he’d appeared. She gaped at the space where he’d stood. How much power does he have?

  “How does he do that?” she breathed.

  “This is his world; he can manipulate it to do anything he chooses,” Rosie answered.

  “What is his fascination with me?”

  “I don’t know, but he is not going to win,” Alex said. “And you are not going to give in to him.”

  “He said you could leave the way you came, and I think you should,” Avery said.

  Shock registered on their faces, and she knew they would refuse to go before they spoke. “We are not leaving,” Alex said. “I don’t know what he is, but he has no idea the amount of power we possess too. We’ll find the others and put that evil bastard in his place.”

  “As long as we’re together, we’ll make it through this,” Rosie said. “He’s not that strong.”

  Avery refrained from commenting. They all knew he was that strong, maybe even stronger than they believed, but her protests wouldn’t do any good. This was their choice to make, and they’d made it. They weren’t going to leave her. She should have found comfort in that realization; she didn’t. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to be hurt because of her.

  “I think we should find one more person and then send one of us back for the rest of the coven,” Rosie said. “We need their help.”

  “Or they could help him!” Alex retorted.

  “They wouldn’t do that,” Rosie protested.

  “You don’t know that,” Alex said.

  “Why would they do that?” Avery asked.

  “They’ve always craved having more power, and they want to use their power more freely than we do. The rest of us fear being locked in a lab, used as a weapon, or killed because people hate the unknown.”

  Avery shuddered at the possibility. “Not even Sandra would be so reckless as to risk that.”

  “I hope not,” Alex said at the same time Rosie said, “No, she wouldn’t.”

  “This place is full of black magic and could be tempting to them,” Alex said.

  Rosie gave him an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “You need to have more faith in them.”

  “Maybe you should have a little less,” he replied.

  Avery gazed around her as she recalled the trophy room, the pool, and Regan’s strange hold over her. From the very beginning she’d sensed malevolence around this place, and now she knew what it was—black magic. However, no matter how difficult, rude, or downright bitchy the other members of the coven could be, she’d never sensed anything evil about them.

  “The rest of the coven wouldn’t turn against us for him!” Rosie snapped.

  “I think we should wait and see what happens before deciding,” Avery said. “Besides, if we do bring them here, Regan could decide to hide them too, and that would only make things worse.”

  “That would be horrible,” Rosie said.

  “We should get moving,” Alex said. “The others are waiting for us to find them.”

  Rosie opened the door and left the room. Avery turned to follow he
r, but Alex grasped her arm, halting her. “Bringing the others here could be a big mistake.”

  “Alex—”

  “No, Avery, we’ll be safer and more likely to survive on our own. I’ve known them since I was a baby. I know if the temptation is great enough, and the power is greater, they might help him.”

  “If you distrust them so much, then why are they part of the coven?”

  “They belong with us and are a part of us, but they have darker sides.”

  Just how dark are these sides? Avery had a sudden flash of Sandra’s smug smile and realized she didn’t want Sandra anywhere near Regan.

  “We’ll see,” she muttered, unsure of what else to say.

  CHAPTER 25

  The door swung shut behind them with an ominous thud. Avery exchanged glances with Alex and Rosie. “Someone’s in here,” Avery said.

  “It’s about time,” Alex grumbled. “We’ve been searching for hours.”

  “It just seems like hours because this sucks so bad,” Rosie replied.

  Avery had to agree with that statement. She was exhausted, thirsty, and her stomach rumbled noisily. Her feet ached, and the constant wetness of her sneakers had rubbed them so raw her blisters had blisters. They’d spent at least forty-five minutes going through another hallway, and yet again, the last door was the right one.

  “What is this?” Rosie demanded. “There’s no one in here!”

  Frustration and exhaustion warred incessantly inside Avery as she took another look at the room. All she saw was four white walls. No new doors materialized, and she didn’t see anywhere someone could hide. Avery spun and grasped the handle which twisted easily in her hand.

  “We must have missed them,” Alex muttered.

  “That’s impossible!” Rosie protested.

  Avery flung the door open and recoiled when she saw what lay on the other side. “What the…?”

  “It’s a freaking jungle!” Alex blurted.