Dreaming of You

by Crymsyn R. Hart

  "What did I do?” he whispered.

  "Nothing.” I shook my head. “I just needed to catch my breath.” I took a moment to look around. There was no grass on the ground, just soft moss. Suddenly, I wished I was barefoot so I could walk around in the spongy foam. Then, I looked down, and I was barefoot. I giggled. When I looked back at Tucker, he was gazing at me so intensely that I felt like I was under a microscope. “What?"

  He smiled and ran his finger along my cheek. “Just you. Do you know how long I've waited to touch you? To kiss you? I want other things from you, but I can't ask them."

  "Why?"

  "It's the rules."

  "You said that before. What does that mean?"

  "It means I want to make love to you, but I can't until you let me. It means I want to claim you for my own, but I can't. It means you're the first human to stumble into my universe and actually be able to stay. It means so much more I can't even tell you the half of it.” He cupped my cheek and held me there, with his palm and with his eyes.

  I thought about what he had said. Things from the past filtered into my mind. We had made love before, at least in my dreams. Why did I have to let him? What did me being here mean to him? Who were the others that had chased us? What was he really? So many questions and not enough answers rolled through my mind. “But in some of my other dreams, you and I have been together? Why do you say you haven't made love to me? How can you be in my dreams and then come to me when I was fully awake, like this morning?"

  "If you desire me enough, Tabby, I can break out of the dream world and be with you. I can be mortal in a fashion. Last night was the first time I've felt that much desire from you. I'd fed on your blood and it infused me with your cravings for me. I saw inside your mind, and I was able to break the threshold of this world and yours. The other dreams of you and I in bed together were only dreams to you. I was only an echo of myself, but the more time you spend here, the more of me is here with you. Last night was the first time I've been completely yours. Like tonight as well. Parts of me aren't off haunting other dreams and bringing chaos. I'm here with you. And the others have noticed."

  "The others?"

  He nodded. “The ones who chased us tonight. They are my brethren. They don't like that you've found the key into our universe and are learning how to change it. There are some humans who can dreamwalk. You've read about them. At first we all thought you were one of them, but the more you've been in your dreams, the more you have learned to be able to control and change you dreams. Not many mortals can do that. You're a threat to the others. And with me spending so much time with you, the others want..."

  I was trembling at what he was saying. My research was true. There were beings who influenced our unconscious minds. It wasn't just our minds that went somewhere else. It was our souls as well. My thesis was going to take on a whole new meaning now. Some of the stuff I had read had been pretty far-fetched. Now that I had a basis for the truth, I wondered what I was going to be writing about. “What do the others want?"

  A look of dread crossed his face. “They want to hunt you. They're calling for your blood. For your very soul."

  My heart sank. There went my hopes for publishing a book on dreamwalking. The others wanted me dead all because I was monopolizing him. What was I going to do? How could I defend myself against beings who could change the very world around them? They were going to be there every time I fell asleep. I couldn't avoid them. I had to sleep. “What am I going to do?"

  "I won't let them hurt you. I won't lose you, Tabby."

  Tucker meant what he said. There was determination in his eyes. He wasn't about to let anything get at me. I leaned in to kiss him again, but as I did, I fell.

  * * * *

  Everything hurt when I opened my eyes. My back and my arms ached from leaning on the desk after falling asleep in the library. I looked around, and it was still dark out. But dawn approached, the colors of it kissing the horizon. A pang of sorrow wrapped around my heart like barbed wire and pierced it. I wanted Tucker. I craved his touch.

  "Then go home and lay down again. Lock your door and I'll be there in some form or another."

  The decision was mine. I packed up my books quickly and went out the side entrance like I first had done in my dream. I hightailed it home, slipped inside quietly, and then went into my bedroom. I locked the door and waited.

  "Okay. What now?” I asked to the thin air.

  I sensed Tucker's laugh, felt his hot breath warming my ear. “How much do you want me, Tabby? Do you just want to have some fun? How hot do your desires run?"

  He wrapped around my waist like he had this morning. My bedroom was somewhat lighted from the coming dawn, and when I looked down, I didn't see his hand, but I felt it. I closed my eyes to make the illusion more of a reality. Did I want him here in the flesh? How much did I crave him? My heart did flips. I desired him. I balled my fists. I knew what I wanted. I wanted to feel him with my hands. I wanted to taste him with my tongue. I wanted to know he was flesh and not woven just from the fabric of dreams. I needed him. I let the yearning capture me and wrap around me like his arm was. “I want you here. I want you flesh.

  I—"

  Before anything else could slip from my lips, I was twisted around in his arms. He captured my lips, and I allowed myself to become his prisoner.

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  Chapter Three

  He frantically tried to get underneath my shirt, but I grabbed his hands and held them. Tucker let me up for air then. The look on his face was panicked, as if he wondered if he had done something wrong. He opened his mouth, but I put a hand up and stopped him.

  "I just needed to breathe. That's all.” I felt his lips form a smile under my fingertips. I let go of his hands and pulled my shirt over my head. I flung it onto my bed, not caring that it only added to the mess in my room. My fingers went to the zipper on his jeans, but he grabbed my hand and guided it down to the bulge in his pants. I ran my hand over the length of it.

  "I want you, Tabby. Ever since I realized what you mean to me."

  Wondering what he meant, I looked at him. “I thought I was only a human that crossed over into your world. I thought that—"

  "It doesn't matter what you thought. What matters is here and now and how much I want you."

  His lips came down on mine before I could truly ask him what was on my mind. I yearned to know exactly what kind of a creature he was, but when his mouth captured mine, the heat erupted between us, and I forgot all about asking him. His palms rubbed my nipples, hardening them in an instant. Pressing against him, I felt the hardness of his cock. I unzipped his pants with no one to stop me. They, like him, felt real enough to me and not something spun from dreams. His mouth left mine and worked down my jawline, and, settling on the spot where he, as a vampire, had bitten me in my dream, he bit the exterior of my neck. He licked the flesh, and he bit a little harder.

  "If you wish me to be a vampire, Tabby, I can be that too,” he whispered in my mind. My fingers had found his cock and were learning the length and width of it. “I can be anything you want me to be, even on this plane. It doesn't matter if I have fangs or claws, hair or scales. I am what you wish me to be."

  What did I want him to be? I had found a form of him in my dreams that I desired more than anything else. I had had him in my dreams as a vampire, a werewolf, a wizard, a daemon, and a hundred other things there were no names for. No. “I just want you as you are."

  I groaned when he left my neck and let his fingers tickle the hollow between my breasts and smooth over the expanse of my stomach. His other hand caught itself up in my hair pulling my head back and kissing the small indentation at the base of my neck. At that moment, a jolt of power sparked between us. It rode my spine. A cry of ecstasy escaped my lips. My back arched, and I had to press my legs together to keep from coming. His hands seemed to be electric against my skin. I felt little pins and needles wherever he touched me. It wasn't painful, was more like pri
ckling, as his energy and mine merged.

  "Stop.” Another jolt seized me. Tears came to my eyes, the shock bringing me to the verge of orgasm. I was there, careening on the edge of a pit that was black and bottomless. If I fell in, I wasn't sure I could find my way out of it. If the pleasure of his touch drove me into that pit, then I wasn't sure if my body or my mind could handle the eternal orgasm. That was the darkness awaiting me, never-ending pleasure, and he was going to take me there.

  "I can't stop it, Tabitha. Once it starts, it doesn't stop. I can't make it stop.” I realized he was feeling it too, was seeing the same vision. He had no idea how to stop the energy moving between us, but we couldn't stop this either. The lovemaking we had started had to come to culmination.

  "Fuck me, then. Do it. Hard."

  "I'll hurt you."

  Tucker let go of my hair and stared deep into my eyes. He was sincere. He really thought he would hurt me. I didn't care. I wanted him. I had summoned him here to be with me. I had to take responsibility for whatever was developing between us. I backed away from him for a quick moment and slipped off my remaining clothes. He did the same by letting his jeans fall to the floor. His dick saluted me. I went to my knees and took it in my mouth. He tried to stop me, but once I began licking, he was lost to the sensation. One hand held his balls to keep him steady while I gripped his ass with the other. As I did, the same energy that he had stirred up was now coming from my hands. My lips worked their way up his cock as my tongue went down. His muscles tightened.

  "Tabby, I'm supposed to—"

  My dream lover gasped when I nipped the sensitive head of his dick and worked my tongue in swirls around the smooth skin. He gripped my shoulders hard and began to rock his hips into me.

  Do you want me to stop? I thought to him. I closed my eyes. I didn't see myself standing on the edge of the pit any longer. I was a few steps back and he was doing the balancing act now. What would happen if we both came together? Would we both fall into the vision that was holding us captive? He was the one who could bend reality. What would happen?

  "Yes. Stop. I have to feel your pussy."

  I took almost all of him in my mouth and came up slowly, letting my tongue and teeth trail over his silky smooth flesh. By the time I swirled my tongue over the head, I tasted the saltiness of precome. I got up off my knees and headed over to the bed. I didn't make it far. Tucker grabbed me from behind and held me around the waist. His strength was suddenly overwhelming, and he was not going to let me go.

  "You still want it hard?” With his free hand, he pushed me down on the bed so my ass faced him. His fingers left trails on the inside of my thighs as he spread my legs farther. My pussy was wet, and I wanted to be taken. I blinked and the abyss had grown bigger behind my eyes. Whatever we were doing was not going to stop. Like Tucker said, once it had begun, we had to see it through until the very end.

  "Yes."

  He bit my shoulder. I cried out. I felt fangs where there shouldn't have been any. “Good girl. Remember you asked for this. You begged me for this."

  Before I could answer, he plunged his dick deep inside of me. Before he had been so warm. Now, he was so cold. I drew in a breath through my teeth, trying not to quiver. When he thrust against me, I noticed there was a difference in his bulk. His chest seemed broader, and he was heavier when he pumped into me. His nails scraped across my belly, and when I looked down, they were thin black talons. His flesh was no longer pink hue of a healthy human. It was the color of dried blood. I held in a scream as he did what I asked. Tucker dived into my pussy all the way.

  I closed my eyes. Fear moving through me, made me wonder what I had invited into my life. What was Tucker really? What kind of a monster was making love to me? As we continued our love making, his actions brought me to the high I had known before. Moans built inside of me, as the pulses of energy from his hands reached a deeper well. Against my closed eyes, I saw the cliff I stood on. The dark abyss beckoned to me, but I tried to hold onto what I was feeling. I couldn't stop Tucker in the middle of all of this. His nails dug into my stomach. Their pinpricks cut into my skin. Blood trailed down my stomach.

  "You're everything I've ever wanted, Tabby.” Tucker's voice was gravelly, deeper than before. “Do you like me fucking you?"

  The sound of skin slapping against skin filled my ears. I gasped. “Yes. Yes.” It was true. I did like him fucking me. I wanted him so badly. The dreams had been vivid when we had been together, but this was unbelievable. It was better than anything, being able to touch him and smell him. He had a deep musk that entranced my senses. Part of his smell was what aroused me so much.

  "Good.” A sharp pain bit into my shoulder. He bit me. At that moment, the abyss rose up and engulfed me. Ecstasy flooded my body, convulsing it and I lost consciousness.

  When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in bed under the covers. I looked over at Tucker, sitting on the bed looking nothing less than human. Had I imagined it all? When I went to get up, I felt weak like I was half there. My shoulder was killing me. My dream lover had a look of concern on his face. “What's the matter?” I asked.

  He reached out and entwined his fingers through mine. “I couldn't hold on. My nature overcame me and I hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you. I should never have crossed over into your reality. I should go—"

  I took his other hand and held it so he wouldn't go anywhere, even though it was hard to do since I didn't seem to have the strength to even sit up. “I'll be fine. I don't want you to go."

  Tucker smiled and ran the back of his hand down my cheek. A shiver ran rampant over my skin. Even that small gesture pulled the warmth from my body. “If I don't go, the others will wonder where I am. If I don't go, I might end up killing you. It's my nature."

  "What are you exactly, Tucker?"

  "You don't want to know,” he whispered. There was so much pain in his voice. He sounded like he didn't enjoy being what he was. Or that he really didn't want me to know what he was.

  "But I do.” I really did. It was obvious that he was some kind of entity that influenced dreams. I wondered what kind. In all cultures, there are creatures said to be able to invade dreams. I had read about them in many of books Professor Amonde had given me. Tucker was the evidence that there was another reality when it came to dreaming. What other reality had I crossed into that had gotten his attention? Maybe he was one of the entities that if he truly killed me in my dreams, then I would die for real.

  But the sex hadn't been in a different reality. It had been in this one. I was wide awake. I had felt and had heard the change in him. He had bitten me and the power Tucker had was so intense it made me black out. “I want to know exactly what you are. I've read about entities who move through people's dreams and influence them. Are you one of those? When we were having sex I felt you change. One minute you were warm and the next you were so cold inside of me. Now I feel like I could sleep for days, like I have no energy. I'm not afraid of you, Tucker. I'm intrigued."

  He squeezed my hand so hard that it hurt. “If I show you what I am, if you truly see me, then there is no going back. I-I can't risk that right now. Feeling me is one thing. Seeing me is another. I went too far, even before. I can't risk your exposure. The others can follow me here, and I don't know what they would do to you."

  "That doesn't answer my question. Are you a daemon, a spirit, what?"

  "I'm a daemon. A creature that walks in dreams, feeding on human emotions. Sometimes, we get entranced with one human and, using its dreams, feed on it, and the human dies. Mostly, we move from dream to dream, human to human, feeding off the desires, fears. Sometimes, we find a powerful spirit and watch that human. That was how I found you. I was walking through your dreams and saw your strength. At first, I wanted nothing more than to possess you and eat you up until you were nothing more than a husk. But then, I began to watch you, and I was spellbound. There was something about you. So I pulled you into a dream one night and it all started from there. Ever since, I have been
enthralled, and here I am. Totally captivated by you until I couldn't help myself and I was so caught up in your dreams that I became whatever you wanted. Normally, it goes the other way around. I control the dreams and not the human, but you are something special.” He freed his hand from mine, ran it through my hair and then his fingers over my face.

  When he touched my face, the same ecstasy I experienced from our love making flooded my body. I shook uncontrollably. When his palm passed over my lips, I exhaled. Something warm was being drawn out of me. I looked down and saw a wisp of smoke leave my lips and be absorbed into his hand. His eyes fluttered in the same orgasmic rapture that had just ensnared me. Then his fingers left my face and I was left even colder, but wanting more. Whatever Tucker had taken from me, whatever power he had over me, I craved for him to do it again. “Wh-what did you do to me?"

  "It's what I do. In the end, when I'm done with a human. I steal their souls. To see me in my true guise would mean our relationship has come to an end and your soul would be mine. I can't have that. You stood at the edge of the abyss today while I made love to you. It almost had you. I almost had you, but I don't want to consume you. However, the contradiction is that I want to consume you, also. I've never had this paradox before. To the others, I will seem weak. If the others catch on, they will want you too. They will wonder why I have not killed you after all this time. Why I can say I've fallen in love with you."