Wait, trees? Where am I?
“Sky,” darkness whispers from outside my head now. “Don’t… You… Dare…” The voice fades into a hushed whisper.
I exhale a deafening breath as I regain control of my body and mind. Relief begins to wash over me until I note my surroundings.
I’m no longer in the cabin but sitting on a muddy ground in the middle of a dark, damp forest. A fog haunts the trees and silvery moonlight filters across the willow branches canopying above me.
“Where the hell am I?” I whisper, peering around at the unfamiliar place.
A figure emerges from the trees, the moonlight hitting their back and making their face a shadow. I should be afraid. I’m in a dark, foggy forest, with no idea how I got here, and some person or creature is looming in the distance. The scene is straight out of a horror movie except I can sense I don’t need to be afraid, that whoever is out there won’t hurt me. That they want to help me. Well, that and feed off of me…
Wait… If I can feel what they’re feeling then they have to be one of the Porterson brothers.
“Your confusion is amusing,” they remark, their boots thudding against the ground as they make their way closer to me.
Wait… I know that voice...
“Porter?” A drop of nervous energy drips through me.
Porter is the oldest of the Porterson brothers, Out of all of them, he is by far the one that makes me feel the most on edge, has from the moment I met him. But it’s not the only feeling he has instilled in me. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve felt… Well, almost like I wanted to surrender to him, which is really freakin’ odd, but everything about my life with the Porterson’s has been odd, so, yeah…
Some of Porter’s brothers have given me little hints of warnings that he’s different, making me question exactly who—or what—Porter is. I’ve also felt some strange things occasionally flowing down the link that I’m almost positive belong to Porter. Hunger. Desire. The need to feed and devour something. It gets so intense sometimes that I find myself wanting to bite someone, which again is weird and makes me think of the dream I had where Hunter bit me.
Vampire…
“You don’t need to be afraid of me,” he promises, his features becoming more prominent the closer he gets.
“I’m not,” I lie, moving to get up.
But my legs wobble from exhaustion so I end up plopping right back down on the ground.
The corners of Porter’s lips quirk upward. “If this is going to work, you’re going to have to be honest with me.”
My brows pull together. “If what is going to work?”
He stops inches away from me and squats down, pale moonlight reflecting in his lavender eyes, the pupils glistening like ice. Or maybe they are ice since that’s his elemental power.
“Me getting you out of here,” he says with a wink.
Strands of my hair fall into my eyes as I tip my head to the side. “But where are we even… The last thing I can remember is being in a cabin in Enchantment with Foster and Easton and no one could get to us and vice versa? So how did I end up here in this creepy forest with you?”
“Well, from what I understand you’ve been out of it for a bit.” He reaches out and taps his fingers against my temple. “Stuck in your own mind, which coincidentally enough is where we are right now.”
I blink, unsure I heard him correctly. “My mind? How can you be in my… Oh…” It clicks. “I’m dreaming, aren’t I?” I ask and he nods. “But then how are you here?” I eye him over. “Or are you just a dream?”
Instead of answering me, he gathers my hand in his and lines my palm against his chest. A chest that feels very solid and very real. Well, except for the fact that his heart isn’t beating.
“Do I feel real?” he asks, his intense gaze making my pulse quicken.
I give a shaky nod. “But why can’t I feel your heart beating?”
A smile spreads across his face, but I detect the slightest bit of sadness in the link.
“My heart never beats, even in real life,” he says with an indifferent shrug. When I open my mouth to ask why, he places a finger to my lips. “What’s wrong with me isn’t important right now. What is, is getting you out of this dream and getting darkness out of you.”
I want to ask him so many questions, but get distracted by something he said. “Wait… Darkness is in me…”
Images flash through my mind, bright and painfully potent, ones of me realizing my kiss killed Brody. “Oh my God… I’m a murderer… I remember now…”
As panic and guilt blaze through me, the wisps of darkness hovering near the trees start to slither toward me.
Porter flicks a glance over his shoulder at the wisps, then looks back at me, cups my face between his hands, and looks me straight in the eye. “You’re not a murderer. You didn’t try to kill anyone. It just happened and I might add, because of a stupid decision Brody made. And you need to understand that our world doesn’t work like the human world. Stuff like what happened to Brody happens all the time, and if you get hung up on it, you’re going to end up destroying yourself. And for what? Because some fucking asshole thought it was okay to force himself on you?” He shifts his weight. “I know who Brody was and if your kiss hadn’t stopped him, he wouldn’t have stopped.”
His words seep through my chilled skin and the darkness falters and scurries back as my attention becomes tethered to Porter’s words.
“How do you know that for sure?” I whisper, searching his eyes.
He mulls over something, a hint of worry zipping through the link.
“I’m sure you’ve caught on that I’m a bit…” He nibbles on his bottom lip. “Different.”
I give a hesitant nod. “Yeah, but no one’s told me why.”
“That’s because I’m not a fan of creatures knowing too much about me.” He pauses, studying me with his head cocked to the side. “However, I think, considering what we have to do to get you out of here, I may need to explain a few things about me.” He withdraws his hands from my face and sits down onto the ground in front of me with his knees bent in front of him. “I’m not going to get into all the details of how it happened because we don’t have time for that, but what you should know about me is that technically I’m not alive.”
Well, that explains the no heartbeat thing. That doesn’t make what he said any less confusing, though.
A smile quirks at his lips. “Max is right. You’re adorable when you’re confused.”
My heart flutters in my chest, but I tell it to shut the hell up, because seriously, it’s not supposed to do that. Not to mention do it while I’m in the middle of some creepy ass forest that I’m assuming is a dream and darkness is teasing me in the distance.
But when my heart does that fluttery thing again, I internally sigh. I don’t understand what’s going on with me. Why I feel drawn to the Portersons and why guilt consumes me when I feel something toward one of them.
“Compliments make you uncomfortable, don’t they?” he muses, the moonlight highlighting the twinkle in his eyes.
I scratch at my wrist. “I don’t know… I mean, I’m not used to them, so…” I shrug, feeling uncomfortable with the topic.
“Hmmm… You might want to change that.”
“Why?”
“Because you might be getting a lot of compliments in the future.”
“Again, why?”
“Because.”
I frown. “You’re being very vague.”
“I know, but I don’t think you’re ready to hear the answer to your question. And I don’t think Foster is ready for you to hear it either.” He shrugs. “My brother is living in the Land of Denial and unfortunately, my other brothers are letting him.” Sadness momentarily masks his face, but he hastily erases the look, putting on a neutral expression. “But anyway, we’re getting off track.”
Beyond confused, I mentally rewind to what he said before.
Him not having a heartbeat… Him not b
eing alive…
“How are you technically not alive?” I scan him over, his long legs, his lean, tattooed arms, his lavender eyes that seem to sparkle with a hint of hunger all the time. “Because you look alive.”
“In our world nothing is what it appears to be, honey. And the undead usually don’t look the part.” He rests his arm on top of his knee. “In fact, some of the undead are the most beautiful creatures you’ll ever set eyes on.”
I wonder if he’s referring to himself. Not that I’d ever admit this aloud, but Porter is one of the most gorgeous guys I’ve ever seen.
Of course, as Porter struggles not to smile, I become embarrassingly aware that my thoughts may have strayed down the link. Again. Every freakin’ time.
Thankfully, he lets me off the hook and doesn’t remark about it.
“The undead are also some of the most dangerous creatures,” he adds, observing my reaction closely.
I swallow hard, not wanting to say it, but feeling like I have to. “Are you dangerous?”
A ghost of a smile plays at his lips. “What do you think?”
I assess his feelings absorbing into me through the link. Hunger. Desire. Excitement. All of those things are pulsating through him right now and it’s crazy how potently I can feel them. But there’s also hints of agony, sadness, and worry.
“I think you aren’t, at least to me,” I utter, wrapping my arms around myself.
He presses his lips together, the link abruptly purring.
Purring like a cat.
What the shit?
“Nunc potui gravissime vorabit vos,” he murmurs as he reaches out and grazes his thumb along my bottom lip.
I stiffen as a series of emotions scatter through me; guilt, want, fear, need, worry. It’s almost too much to process.
What’s happening to me?
With a sigh, he pulls his hand away.
“You’re right. I’m not dangerous to you,” he says and the link suddenly goes silent. “And me being undead is actually what’s going to help me get you out of here and away from darkness. However, it’s only going to be a temporary solution. In order to rid your body completely of darkness, another measure will have to be taken once we get out of here.” He exhales loudly, a movement I find odd seeing as how he’s supposed to be dead. “Depending on which route we decide to go, it could end up being very drastic.”
I swallow hard. “Just how drastic?”
He gives a half-shrug. “It could be as simple as taking you to a healing doctor.” He gives a short pause as he slants forward. “I’m going to be very real with you right now, but sometimes I think it’s best to be blunt instead of keeping stuff from someone. It’s what makes shit like this happen.” He gestures at the forest and the wisps of darkness dancing in the distance.
Despite my fear of what he’s about to tell me, I give a nod. “I agree with you. No more secrets. I want to know the truth.”
He seems both pleased and worried by my answer as he reaches out and wraps his fingers around my wrist, lining his fingertips to my pulse. What he’s doing is beyond me but it has me feeling all jittery and off balance, like I’m stumbling through a dance I don’t know the steps to, but he knows them perfectly.
“You’re tougher than you look,” he remarks, the corners of his lips quirking. When I narrow my eyes at him, he grins. But all of his humor fizzles as he sighs. “While I wish there was an easier way to permanently erase the darkness currently taking over your body and mind, the only way I can think of right now is to make you the same as me.” He pauses, giving me time for his words to sink in.
“You mean I’ll have to become… undead...” I gulp down a shaky breath. “Does that mean I’d have to die?” I ask.
He gives a wavering nod. “Sort of.”
Blood roars in my eardrums and my heart pounds against my chest. I can barely breathe. Think. Exist. Darkness begins to creep toward me again, feeding off my panic.
“Honey, relax. I never said it was a for sure thing.” Porter’s voice is calm and steady but the link is rickety at best. “Just that it might have to happen if we can’t figure out another way. But we’ll worry about that after we get you out of here. And I’m sure when I inform my brothers of my idea, they’re going to do everything in their power to find another way.”
I study him. He looks so calm yet worry is flowing through me. Worry that doesn’t belong to me. So what isn’t he telling me?
“I feel like you’re not telling me everything,” I say, watching his reaction closely.
He lifts a shoulder, giving a nonchalant shrug. “I’m not, but only because now isn’t the time to get into all of the details.”
I press my free hand to my chest as his words sink in and my heart begins to ache. This can’t be real. This place, what’s happening… “This is a dream—it has to be. You’re not really here and neither am I.” I pinch my arm and wince. “Ow.”
The edges of his lips tug upward as he brushes his fingers across the spot on my arm I just pinched. “There’s no need to hurt yourself. You and I are in a dream, but your dream seer ability makes it so you and I are pretty much real. And so is this conversation.”
Lovely. That means everything he said is true.
“How did you guys find out for sure I have a dream seer ability?” I wonder, lowering my hand from my chest.
“We didn’t. We just assumed. And now that I’m in here, we know for sure you do, so at least that’s one less thing we have to solve about you, you mysterious, albeit gorgeous creature.” The corners of his lips tease upward in amusement.
His words and attention is making me feel all squirrely inside. Not necessarily in a bad way, but in a very confusing way.
“How are you in here, anyway?” I ask. “I mean, how did you get into my dreams?”
He shrugs. “The same way you get into your own dreams.”
“You fall asleep?” I ask and he nods. “Okay, but that doesn’t explain how you actually got into my dream.”
“I got here the same way darkness did,” he explains. When I stare at him in puzzlement, a crease forms between his brows. “Has Foster not explained this to you?” When I shake my head, he sighs then sits up straighter. “Back before the gods and goddesses died, they used to be able to peer into our dreams whenever they wanted. That’s because when we close our eyes to go to sleep, the magic in our blood connects our minds to Dreamland, a world created by the gods and goddesses.”
“But if all of our minds are going to one place then why isn’t everyone running into each other when they go to sleep?” I ask, totally confused. But that’s becoming the story of my life anymore.
“Because the magic in the land creates a realm between everyone’s dreams. You however, have the gift of letting creatures through your realm and into your dreams, and since you haven’t learned how to control your ability yet, it means any creature that can find their way to your realm can get into your dreams. Now, most probably won’t be able to touch you.” He strokes his finger along my forearm, causing a shiver to roll through me, which elicits a pleased smile from him. “But because I’m pretty much undead, your ability doesn’t register with me as a real living, breathing, heart beating creature. It doesn’t see me as real so it doesn’t protect you from me.” As hunger consumes his eyes, my heart slams against my chest. “Which also means that until you can learn to get better control over your ability, all the big, bad monsters can sneak inside your head.”
When he puts it that way… “Are you a monster?”
He smiles amusedly. “Close, but not quite.”
“Okay, well you kind of made it sound like you were one. Well, that or a ghost.” I assess him closely. “Is that what you are?” I ask, but then shake my head. “That wouldn’t make sense, since you can touch me. Well, unless what I learned about ghosts isn’t accurate.”
An amused smile takes over his face. “I’m not a ghost, honey, so guess again.”
Awesome. Why do I get the feeling he’s toying
with me? And enjoying it?
I rack my brain for my knowledge on undead creatures. A lot of the information that I learned has come from reading books written by humans so I’m unsure how accurate my knowledge is.
“Are you a zombie?” I try again.
He chuckles, his eyes crinkling around the corners. “That seriously your second guess?”
My skin warms in embarrassment. Luckily, it’s too dark for him to be able to see. But then I feel hunger and desire swimming through the link, and I question if maybe he has night vision and can see my flushing cheeks. Well, either that or he can sense my embarrassment through the link.
But that doesn’t explain why he feels hungry about me being embarrassed.
“I’m not a zombie.” He presses back a grin. “And, as much as I’d love to sit here and feel you blush while you thought about Gods knows what, we need to get you out of here.”
“Yeah, I’m more than ready to get out of here.” I wait for him to divulge what he is, but all he does is take my hand, get to his feet, and pull me up with him.
Then he threads his fingers through mine. “In order to get you out of here without you having to return to your current darkness possessed body, I’m going to have to tether your soul to mine.”
“I…” I blink. “What?”
“It’s not as bad as it sounds.” He steps closer to me and I have to tip my head back to meet his eyes. “However, like I said before, when we get out of here, we’ll have to find a more permanent solution.”
“Which might mean I have to become… Whatever you are, right?” I wish he'd just tell me so I know what I’m in store for. “You know, it might be easier if you just told me what you are right now. That way I can prepare myself.”
He shakes his head. “It’ll be easier for you to handle if my brothers are around when you find out. In fact, I’m pretty sure if I told you right now, you’d flee into the trees and then I’d have to track you down again.”
“How did you track me down?” I ask, trying not to focus on what he said because he’s making it sound as if I should be afraid of him. And part of me is, yet another part of me, a much darker twisted part, feels curiously drawn to the Porterson brother with lavender eyes.
Iridescent Chaos: (Enchanted Chaos, Book 3) Page 7
