Nightmare City: Book 1 Of The Nightmare City Series (Urban Fantasy)

by P. S. Newman

  Bella and I cleaned the house and kitchen in silence. Bella moved like an off-kilter automaton, her eyes red and face white against the black of her dress. "Can I sleep with you tonight?" was the only thing she said. I was glad she asked first.

  We changed into pajamas and laid down on the king-sized bed in the first guest room, at the opposite end of the hall from David's bedroom. Down here, we would witness as little as possible of Cecelia's inevitable break-down.

  Bella fell asleep almost immediately; it had always been that way when I was close. She trusted me to guard her dreams, to protect her from them. Plus, like all of us, she was exhausted.

  “Aunt Vy?” I said softly in my head. My sword leaned against the wall right next to my side of the bed. This was the first chance we got to speak in peace. I hoped she would talk to me. She hadn’t spoken a word after telling me about her time with the doppelgänger and why she believed it when he said Sean killed David.

  I still didn’t fully understand what had happened to shut her down this way. I knew that it had to do with her inability to save Bella, and the deeper issue that was her dependence on people, more specifically on Bella and me - but it had been this way from the beginning. I couldn’t wrap my head around why it had suddenly become a problem. “I’m sorry for threatening to lock you away. You know I’d never actually do that. Please talk to me. What’s wrong?”

  To my surprise, she answered almost immediately. “I suppose you could say I’m going through an existential crisis.”

  “But why? What has changed?”

  “In a way, both of us. We may be shades, but we still grow and evolve. Just like humans.”

  “Evolve how?”

  “You’re becoming more and more independent. You’re no longer Elysia, the shade hunter that Bella manifested out of a graphic novel and her romantic notions. You’re Eden Maybrey, freelance shade hunter, protector of dreams and shades, best friend and homeowner. You have your own life, a purpose, a direction to follow. But the more independent you become from your alias, from me, from Cecelia and even Bella, the more evident it is that I’m wholly and completely reliant on you and your goodwill towards me. I’m a sword. I must be wielded to be of use. If you choose to lock me away, there’s nothing I can do about it. Without me, you’re still you. Without you, I am nothing. I’m useless. I was right there when the doppelgänger took Bella, but there was nothing I could do. Nothing. He just grabbed me from her, dropped me on the ground, and that was that.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. I couldn’t believe I’d never truly considered what it must mean to be a spirit, a soul, trapped in an immobile object. Aunt Vy had always just been… Aunt Vy. A sword possessed by a soul.

  It was the first time I realized that maybe that wasn’t quite true. That maybe the soul was trapped in the sword. And it seemed she’d only realized this recently, too.

  “I’m sorry you feel that way. That I made you feel that way.”

  “I suppose it was inevitable.”

  “That doesn’t mean we can’t do something about it,” I said with some force.

  “Like what?” she asked. “Believe me, I’ve been racking my blade. But no matter what I or anyone else does, I’ll always be a sword. I’ll always be dependent.”

  I had no immediate answer for her, either. But there was something I could promise. “How about, for now, I will make an effort to treat you less like my sword and more like a person.”

  “You’ve never treated me like an object,” she said, then chuckled. “Well, almost never.”

  “But I’ve never treated you like a full-on person with your own feelings and rights, either,” I admitted. “I’ve never once asked if you want to go on a shift with me. I know you enjoy battle, but maybe there are some nights when you’d rather stay home and chat with Bella, for example. Maybe you’d rather compose poems than hunt shades. Maybe you’d like to take a knitting course.”

  “How would I knit?”

  “I’m just trying to make a point that you should be able to do whatever you want to do, instead of doing what I do by default, because you’re attached to my back.”

  “I appreciate that. But it won’t solve the crux of the matter.”

  “No,” I agreed, “but we can figure this out. As long as you don’t go silent on me again.”

  “That really bothered you, didn’t it?”

  “We can’t figure anything out if we don’t talk. And even though that’s how we talk, I can’t actually read your mind.”

  “You truly want to help?” she asked. I’d never heard her sound so… small.

  “Of course,” I assured her. “We’re in this together.”

  “Okay then.”

  “Okay then.”

  “Aunt Vy?”

  “What, child?”

  “Will you help me find a way to bring Sean to justice?”

  “Of course.”

  We said nothing more, but I felt like we’d at least come to a truce. And still, my mind, exhausted and yet frantic with guilt, refused to calm down. I lay awake, thoughts running in circles. At least Bella still slept soundly beside me.

  Shortly after midnight, the door to our room opened. "Edita?” Cecelia whispered. "You in here?"

  “Yes. Come join us."

  Cecelia slid into bed on the other side of Bella. Bella murmured and snuggled deeper into me but didn't wake up. Over the top of her head, Cecelia and I looked at each other, our faces horizontal on the pillows. I extricated my top arm from Bella's loose grip and laid my hand on Cecelia's. She grabbed on so tightly that the joints in my fingers cracked. Tears leaked over the bridge of her nose, down her temple, to be soaked up by the pillow.

  "I can’t stand it, Dita,” she whispered. "How am I supposed to go on when I know I'll feel like this for the rest of my life?"

  It felt as if she were speaking directly from my soul. I missed Greyson in the exact same way. Had missed him every day of my existence. I wished I could tell her it got better, but that wasn't my experience. Especially now, after he had actually, finally existed. We'd been close. So close…

  At that moment, I understood what it felt like to be capable of murder. If Sean had stuck his head into the room right now, I would have killed him. Seldom had I felt so driven, yet at the same time so utterly powerless.

  "I don't know, Lia,” I whispered back. I squeezed her hand which was still clenching mine like a vise. "I'm sorry I let you down. Both of you."

  We hadn't talked about my broken promise to protect David. It weighed on me, especially now that I kept the knowledge about who truly was responsible to myself.

  "Hush," Cecelia said. "Let's not talk."

  She didn't accept my pitiful attempt at an apology, nor did she offer her forgiveness. I didn't ask for it. It wasn't the right time.

  <<<<>>>>

  Three nights later, I walked down the hall to Ganner's office as if this were my last mile. When I opened the door, Ganner looked surprised. "I half expected you not to show," she said from behind her desk.

  “You and me both.”

  Ganner laid a sheet of paper on the desk in front of me and held out a pen. "Sit. Read. Sign."

  I sat, read and signed. The terms of the contract were far better than I could have hoped. I found no reason to refuse. Heck, I would be earning more than I did now, including benefits.

  “What do you think?” I asked the sword on my back after reading the contract out to her in my mind. I was trying my hardest to include her and give her more choices.

  “A sweet deal,” Aunt Vy said. She was still not back to her usual bossy, ready-to-interrupt self, but at least she was interacting with me again. “Especially considering this is blackmail.”

  I had to agree. I looked at my new boss. "What's the catch?"

  Ganner raised a brow. "Catch?"

  "We both know why I'm here," I said. "You could have given me the crappiest contract ever written up and I would have signed it. And yet I get dental care plus a monthly retirement fund." N
ot that most shade hunters lived long enough to cash it.

  "Look," Ganner said. "We can do this the hard way, where I have to keep reminding you that I can ruin your life. Or we do this the easy way, where we go about this as if it were any other business relationship. I want this to work as much as you do.”

  "What about Taylor? He'd like nothing more than to report me."

  "He won't. Not as long as he wants to keep hunting shades.”

  "How can you be so sure?"

  "You aren't the only one with secrets, dear."

  "But you're the only one who knows them all."

  She smiled like a fox.

  The door opened behind me.

  "Speak of the devil," Ganner said. “Sergeant Taylor, thank you for coming. Sit."

  He didn’t. "What's she doing here?"

  My sentiments exactly.

  "Maybrey has officially joined our ranks," Ganner announced.

  Taylor's jaw actually dropped. He tried to speak but no words came out. There was a first time for everything, after all.

  But Ganner wasn't done shocking him. "Which finally gives me the perfect new partner for you."

  My jaw mimicked Taylor's and almost crashed to the floor.

  “She’s kidding, right?” Aunt Vy said.

  “I hope so.” Please God, let her be pulling a practical joke on Taylor and me.

  "Close your mouths, you look pathetic," she said. "Seriously, you didn't see this coming?"

  Both Taylor and I found our voices at the same time. "No!" It was both answer to her last question as well as vehement cry of protest.

  "Yes.” Delight lit up her face.

  “She's gone insane,” Aunt Vy theorized. “It’s the only explanation.”

  Taylor managed to speak. "Give us one good reason why we should agree to this.”

  "We despise each other," I added. In case it wasn't obvious.

  "You want a reason? Fine. Number one: you balance each other out. Taylor hates shades a little too much, Maybrey likes them a little too much. Number two: Joshua Dobrev still hasn’t woken out of his coma. Even if he did right this second, he would need at least a year of rehab and extensive physical training to be able to work again. You both need partners. All my other hunters are paired up, so this is the obvious decision. Third: even if you don't want to acknowledge it, the two of you work well together under pressure. You make a good team when the going gets tough. And last, but by no means least…” she looked at Taylor. At me. Back at Taylor. She opened her mouth and barked, “because I said so.”

  Taylor and I looked at each other. The tightness in my chest was mirrored in his face. But Ganner was relentless. "Suck it up and deal. Taylor, show Maybrey where the women’s locker room is and then I want to see the two of you at the briefing in fifteen minutes. Your first shift together starts tonight. Go make your dreams untrue."

  THE END

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you for reading Nightmare City! I hope you enjoyed the ride.

  I’m working hard on Dreamscapes, book 2 in the Nightmare City series; keep up to date on the progress by signing up for my newsletter at psnewman.com.

  Cheers, Pia.

  Want to know how things started for Eden, Bella, Aunt Vy & Co.?

  Then sign up for my newsletter and get a FREE download of Once Upon A Nightmare, the prequel novella to Nightmare City:

  Last night, Elysia Rey was a dream.

  Today she’s alive, flung into a world where phones are smart and magic is called electricity. A world in which her kind has no right to live and is hunted by monsters and humans alike.

  But Elysia Rey wasn’t created to roll up and die. She has one purpose:

  Protect her dreamer.

  No bulletproof chimera or vengeful dream hunter will keep her from fulfilling that purpose.

  Once Upon a Nightmare is also for sale as an Amazon ebook for $0.99.

  Acknowledgments

  From the first inception of this story - over 10 years ago - I’ve had an insane amount of support from a ton of people, who’ve helped me make this dream of publishing my debut novel come true.

  Thanks to Mom and Dad for your continued support of my unconventional lifestyle. Love you.

  Thank you Andy for leading with the best example by living your dream life and giving me the courage to leap into mine. You’re my role model, bro.

  Thank you Chris Barnes, Melanie Bogner, Daniela Dihlmann, Rosie Dunstan, Lindsey Keith, Dan Sloan, and Bill Tracy for being my wonderful beta readers for this and so many previous stories. I’ll be hitting you up again for book 2 in the series.

  Thanks to my Birds of a Feather writers group for your encouragement, support and faith in my wordsmithing. I miss our Friday afternoon writing and wining sessions. Don’t worry, I’m still aiming for that jet, if only so I can see the Planelopes dance at the Oscars.

  Thank you Jess Murray for instigating all our late-night nerdy parties, without which it would probably have taken me another year to finish this book.

  Thanks to the members of the WiFi Tribe Bolivia chapter, who were there to celebrate with me when I finished this book; a celebration that ended in a wonderful night of not-as-drunk-as-you-may-think group singing to a wonderfully out-of-tune piano. #betterinbolivia

  Thanks to the three literary agents who not only requested the full manuscript but got back to me with detailed notes or edits instead of form rejections. Even though you decided to not represent Nightmare City, your input convinced me that this story was worth publishing.

  More from P.S. Newman

  Pia S. Newman is a location independent copywriter, translator and virtual assistant, currently on a mission to live, work, and write in all her bucketlist countries a few months at a time. She writes mostly urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels. Nightmare City is her debut urban fantasy novel.

  Sign up for her newsletter by clicking here to receive a free download of Once Upon A Nightmare, as well as regular information about new releases and upcoming discounts via email.

  Or visit her website at psnewman.com for more info on her books and her life as a writer and digital nomad.