“Huh, what?” The man seemed startled that Brian was still here.
“I said, what do you want for it? Brian asked again.
“A lot more than I'm going to get for it now. Only thing this set's worth now is melting down and selling the silver in bulk.” The man snorted.
“I'll give you a hundred dollars for it right now.” Brian said.
The old man's head snapped up at Brian’s words, a small smile creeping across his face. “Sold, but I’m not taking it back when the Missus finds out you bought an incomplete set.” The old man warned.
“No problem at all. I'm sure she won't even notice.” Brian said as he dug out a hundred dollar bill and passed it to the old man.
“Well it's all wrapped and ready to go.” The clerk cackled as he snatched the bill from Brian’s fingers then stashed it into his pants pockets as he walked away back to his magazine. Brian looked down at the 'wrapping', if a dirty sheet could be called that.
Well, it really didn't matter what it was wrapped in. No one was ever going to use the utensils for anything but killing anyway, and if the dirty thing made the wolf sick, who was going to complain?
The cabby was still waiting for him when he came out carrying his sheet wrapped bundle, the sound of the silverware plainly evident as he climbed into the back seat of the car.
“I see you found what you were looking for.” The cabby said as the door slammed shut. Brian noticed that the meter was over fifty dollars already. At this rate he was going to be completely broke by the time he got to play cards again.
“More or less.” Brian responded.
Several minutes later Brian was back at his apartment door, that now stood slightly ajar, rather than shut and locked as he had left it. The cabby’s engine faded into the distance as Brian removed the first silver knife he found in the bundle. Pausing for just a second, Brian imagined a large rat he had seen on TV not so many nights ago, a really ugly one, but then again looks really didn't matter. The main goal here was to set up an illusion around himself. He wasn't entirely sure how it worked, all he knew was that if anyone were to look at him, all they would see was a large rat scurrying along the floor.
The truth was, nothing would have changed about himself. He would still be standing there holding a large knife, and couldn't squeeze through things like he were a rat. But it worked for remaining unnoticed.
When he was sure the illusion was in place, he pushed open the door and stepped in, fully expecting to see the gray werewolf waiting for him in the room. He had no idea if a vampire's shape changing illusion would work on a werewolf, but it was the best thing he could come up with to try on such short notice.
“I see you’ve been working on your illusion power.” His aunt's voice met him as he walked into the room. “I'd suggest next time not pushing the door all the way open if you expect someone to believe you're just a rat.”
6
The apartment looked exactly how he left it, with the exception of his green lazy boy turned around to face the door, which his aunt now sat in watching him as he dumbly stood there looking at her.
“You really should learn more self-control.” she smiled at him.
“How so?” He inquired as he looked behind his front door, before entering the rest of the way in and closing it.
“How do you learn more self-control?” She asked, her eyebrows raising in confusion.
“No, I mean, why do I need more self-control?” Brian paused then looked around his room. “Why are you here?”
“I would think it was obvious.” She smiled again as she changed legs.
“I'm sorry?”
“You're forgiven.” She said
“No...I'm not 'sorry' per say. That was a figure of speech.”
“I realize that.” She chuckled.
“Alright, maybe we should start again.” Brian put his palm to his forehead and slowly began to rub it. “No, skip that. Just tell me why you are here.”
“My agents intercepted your assassin.” Her voice went cold and serious.
“Well, that's good then.”
“Before we lost him again.”
Brian sighed. “Then I guess that’s bad then. Um, I’m sorry, but why did you say you were here again?”
“I thought you might like an update on our progress.”
Brian nodded then walked over to his desk table, dropping the bundle of silverware onto it. Several forks escaped its confines and bounced around on the carpet with a loud clatter.
“Gone shopping, have we?” His aunt smiled as he turned around to look at her. “I told you we will take care of him.”
“Did you? I don't quite remember you ever saying that, and besides I like to be prepared.” He was surprised when she didn't have any response to that. He had expected her to continue arguing with him. Oh well, he thought, I really wasn't in the mood to banter with her at the moment, anyway.
“What's your plan?” She finally asked, as he slouched against the table where the silver was.
“I didn't have one. I just thought I'd feel a little better if I had some silver around.”
“Brian we will capture this rogue operative. You can count on that.” She stood up and looked as if she were about to leave.
“That's it?” Brian asked as he started to follow her to the front door.
“That's what?” She paused dramatically.
“You let yourself into my room just to tell me everything’s going to be alright, out of the kindness of your heart?”
“I suppose so.” She smiled at him. “Why...is there something else you require of me?”
Brian stared into her eyes as she turned to look at him “Yeah, I have a question.”
“That’s not going to work you know.” She smiled at him.
“What's not going to work?” Brian asked as he backed up, realizing that he couldn’t seem to make a connection with her.
“You can't 'glimmer' me, or dominate me, or whatever you call it. We take precautions against your kind.”
“My kind?”
“You said you had a question?”
“Why did my mom call you Margret all the time, and yet you always had me call you Jenn?” He knew that wasn't much of a question, and he figured he already knew the answer, but it was the only thing off the top of his head. He really wasn't going to ask anything after all. He just wanted to teach her a lesson, one that he hoped she would never forget.
She never gave him the chance.
“That’s it? That’s your question. Not 'what do you mean by my kind'? Or 'where is the werewolf now'? Or maybe 'how can I turn all my forks into bullets'?” She laughed. “I'll see you sometime soon.”
Brain stood there as the door closed behind her without another word, fuming at it, as he looked for some comeback that would give him the upper hand. It never came.
“Well, that didn't go so well.” Brian recovered the escaped forks, then unwrapped the rest. After inventorying them and pleasantly finding out that they were real silver, Brian began to strategically place them around the house. It wasn't much of a plan, but he really didn't have anything else he could do with them. He kept on his person a knife and a fork. He wasn't too sure how effective they would be, but still...better safe than sorry.
Later that evening, Brian contemplated going out and hunting on his own. Being the bait for the werewolf seemed like a perfectly good idea. After all, he'd seen it done several times on TV. The only trouble was the bait didn't always survive. Still, it was a plan.
That, or he could see if Heather was asleep yet. He had to admit, if given a choice, Heather was always going to win. Even if she didn't seem to want to see him much anymore. After all, if the werewolf wanted to find him, how hard could it be to track him down to this little no name motel? Brian was sure he could do it if he had been looking for himself, so it should be child’s play for something like a werewolf.
After all, didn't they have, like, super sniffers or something?
With that decided,
there really wasn't anything stopping him from checking out Heather's current dream. Who knew, maybe Chuck wouldn't even be there this time. Seconds later, Brian found himself relaxing on top of his bed. Every stray thought that tried to bounce around inside of it he took control of, until there was a perfect silence that was almost deafening. With that done, he centered his mind on one thing, Heather. Her perfect slender form came to mind, as well as her clear blue eyes. Brian could smell her scent, as a soft breeze began to blow over him.
Opening his eyes, he found himself standing in a dark skeletal forest. The ground littered with the leaves that presumably once adorned the now naked branches. A soft wind kicked them up here and there, scattering them over the entire floor of the all but silent place.
This is an odd dream. I hope we're not in a nightmare tonight. Of course if she was having a nightmare, then she would have very little control over the environment. Which meant it would make it a lot easier for him to acclimate himself to it. Not to mention he would get the chance to be the hero this time.
The down side, of course was that things could go bad for him just as easily as it could for her. The last time things got out of control, Brian found himself being attacked by a stake wielding mob. That was a bit disconcerting. In the end, a mob built up and began to chase him up what seemed like a never ending hill. When he did finally reach the top, he was surprised to see the entire hill surrounded by the mob, holding torches and stakes and easily numbering in the thousands.
And somehow Heather had gone from being the heroine in need of rescue, to being the princess, and leader of the mob. She was the one who gave the commands to light the hill's brush on fire. Brian had to leave that dream and then return later. At least then the dream had reset to a much better and easier dream to take part in.
This however looked like it might be a difficult dream again. “Well, first things first, I need to find Heather.”
It didn't take long to find her. Her blond hair was colored an odd shade of black, as well as the rest of her clothes. The breeze that seemed to fill the place appeared to have found it's origin in the deep crevice that her legs now dangled over.
“Heather?” Brian said as he slowly made his way to her. He knew this was just a dream, yet he found himself tense and worried about how close she was to the edge. “Heather what are you doing?”
Brian watched her turn her head towards him. The black make up running down her face, obvious signs that she had been recently crying.
“Heather, what's wrong?” He asked again as he finally got within reach of her. He was tempted to grab her and drag her away from the cliff. In fact the only reason he didn't was because he wasn’t sure his inhuman strength would actually be available for him here and now, not to mention that even if it was, she could change that in a heartbeat. The last thing he needed was to send both of them off the edge.
“Oh, it's you.” She said then turned away from him and began to swing her legs again.
“Heather, what are you doing here? Why are you dressed that way?”
“Hm?” She looked down at her clothes as if seeing the way she looked for the first time. “I'm not sure.”
“Heather just come away from there and let's talk.” Brian held out his hand to her.
“Why? You don't care.”
“What do you mean?”
“You don't care, so why are you bothering?”
“Heather, I care a lot. In fact, I've always cared, even when we were kids.”
She made a giggling sound that was not as pleasant sounding as it should have been. “If you cared, why did you let me go, and why do you continue to harass me every night?”
Why did I let her go? Isn't it obvious? He thought. I let her go because I love her. Doesn't she know that?
“Heather, listen. Let's just go and get some coffee somewhere and just talk.”
“Go away!” She shouted at him. “You're not even real! Just go away.” She suddenly started to sob.
Brian stood there confused as he watched her cry. Her shoulder's shook as her dark hair flew about her thanks to the mystic wind of the gorge. What was he supposed to do? How was he to know that he shouldn't have let her go? If she didn't want to go, why did she leave?
“Heather...listen. I only let you go because I thought you wanted to go. I didn't want you to leave.”
She paused in her sobs as he talked. He hoped that he was getting through to her. Still, she didn't turn back to him. “Listen, I'm sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking when I let you go. I was stupid and insensitive. I want you back Heather.”
“You know,” she began slowly. “I really have been trying to forget you. I've even managed to somehow find Chuck here.” She paused for a second. “But each time I think I'm starting to get closure, you show up and reopen the wounds. Brian I can't take this.”
“Heather...I didn't know. I just...I'm sorry.”
She laughed. “You're just a dream. Look at me talking to my dream Brian.” She looked over the precipice peering into the darkness. “I wonder what would happen.”
“Heather, no!” Brian shouted at her. “No, this isn’t the way. I need you Heather. I didn't know how much I needed you until after I lost you.”
Heather leaned back and looked up at his face. “Don't be silly, this is just a dream. Nothing bad’s going to happen.”
“Then why do it?” he countered. Why risk something over nothing?”
Her face softened as he said that, and he could see that her hair began to lighten. Even the color of her clothes began to lighten.
“I don't know.”
“Then come with me. Let me show you that I care, that I'm not just a dream Brian.” He took a step closer, reaching for her. Her eyes suddenly opened wider as she looked at him.
“Brian?” She gasped as if she had seen him for the first time. A sense of relief began to fill him as the gaping wound in the earth began to close and Heathers appearance quickly changed back to her pink shirt and white slacks. “Brian, is it really you?”
A hand made of pure shadow erupted from the almost closed wound in the ground. Its black fingers engulfed the small frame of Heather before Brian could answer her. He watched helplessly as she was jerked from him and down into the disappearing pit. Her scream of his name echoed in his ears as the ground closed around where she had disappeared.
“Heather!” He screamed and jumped to the now solid spot of ground, digging furiously. “What the hell is this? I hate nightmares. Damn it, I hate nightmares. They never make any sense!” He shouted to himself. She had to be somewhere. He paused and ran dirt-caked hands over his sweaty face. “Think, damn it. Alright. I need to calm myself. This is just a dream. She's here somewhere, and that was most likely the monster I need to beat to save her. I can't believe it chose that moment to interfere.”
Brian backed up and began to survey his surroundings. “There has to be a clue to where I can find her.”
The stripped trees sat silent as he spun around looking for any hint of what he needed to do next. Then the dream was gone. No blinking, no fading away. Just gone. He sat up in his bed, sweat covering his forehead; he could feel his heart pounding. “That wasn't right. It doesn't end like that normally.”
He wasn't sure, but he began to wonder if something was really wrong. He needed to go back and see if he could find her. Not her dream self, but to actually find her. He avoided doing that since she left, as he felt that would be going too far, breaching her privacy. Going into her dreams was one thing. Spying on her real life was something different. He had to draw the line somewhere.
The problem was would she understand if she found out? He hesitated, arguing with himself. Maybe she just woke up. I mean, after all, I can still feel her out there. How bad can it be? The need to dream-walk to her was overwhelming. His pulse was racing, and he was still sweating. However the dream came to an end, it didn't feel quite natural. Would it really hurt to just see if she was alright? She wouldn't know, after all...
&n
bsp; He thought about it a bit longer, until he noticed what time it was. The fact that it was only 3:24 in the morning created a sense of urgency in him, there was no way she should have woken up yet.
He was going to have to calm down, otherwise he was never going to make the jump.
It took several minutes, but in the end he finally got his fear under control. What am I doing? He thought, I'm seriously over-reacting. You wake up early from nightmares all the time. I guess that dream just got to me as much as her. After all she's still there, I can feel her.
He smiled and shook his head as he sat back on his bed, now feeling much calmer. “That was one weird dream” He said to no one in particular still chucking.
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