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Page 30
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Mason
I didn't know whether I should be shocked or relieved that Tamazusa had used the word “ass” with me. Seriously, that coming out of her mouth made my day.
I knew that we were in deep shit. I wasn't that stupid. The Trust held part of Nippon with the help of the Egyptians, and there were rumors that a couple more nations would be joining the party. From what that fucker Iida had said, that was something that was going to screw over all of the Dreamlands and not just Nippon.
But there were good things too. Wolf and McGann seemed to have hooked up, even if he hadn't taken the big step of moving in with her at Inumura's place. I liked that, they were both nice kids, and I thought that she could help him with his little going-bug-fuck-in-a-fight issue, along with whatever other damage that asshole had done to him. That also got Helga off his ass, because the bitch seemed absolutely terrified of him now. Tholf wasn't quite treating him like he was dynamite, but it was damned close. In their culture, being a berserker was a big thing. Me, I was waiting for the day he moved out of my room and into McGann's.
Keno and Samojirou seemed to be doing all right. I didn't know how either of them were going to handle the issue with the Trust fucking up Wolf and making him think that he was playing for their team now, at least in regards with Keno. Shit, Keno and Samojirou were so in love, they were having a hard time keeping their hands off each other. They'd figure out something to do. They both were smart guys.
And I liked it here. Granted, the beer was crap, and there were no sports teams, but the sake and having a family again made up for it. I think that Fuse got a kick out of me calling her “Mom.” I wasn't so ballsy that I called Yatsufusa “Dad,” but I was working up to it.
I really didn't want to go back to working for the Trust, and not because the assholes tried to kill me. People here were good people and not the monsters I had been told they were. They thought the Hakarl were vermin to be taken care of, just like I did. I wanted to help them, as odd as that sounded, help them in this war and with those fucking monsters. What the Trustees were trying to do needed to be stopped. Because the organization that had been created to fight monsters had turned into a monster itself. And fuck, that was what I did, what I was supposed to do: fight monsters. So I was going to fight them in any way that I could.
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Keno
Mason, McGann, Wolf, and I stayed at Inumura's castle in Edo. Tamazusa didn't want us to move back to her kuni until the war was over. She wants us—me—to be safe in Edo.
I didn't know what I was going to do with the information that Wolf might like me more than he realized. As in “thinks that I'm an adult and wants to have sex with me” like. Now that it could happen, I wasn't interested anymore. Wolf would always be my first love, as one sided as it had been, and the man I had hoped I would share my first kiss with, my first time with, instead of Heiseg raping me. But I realized that while I loved Wolf, and still did in a way, it was a child's love or a dream. What I had with Samojirou was real. It was the love between two men. And I was the man that I was today because of Samojirou.
I thought Mason was supposed to babysit me, but I seemed to be taking care of him. I was starting to teach him how to fight with a bokken. That kept me busy and amused the samurai who are assigned here. I guessed that was because when I wasn't on the field with them during morning practice, I was in Sakura's female persona. I was doing that so that everyone in Nippon would forget Inuzaka Keno had ever existed. I knew that was a cowardly thing to do, but I didn't want to be him ever again. My ancestor and I had caused me more trouble and pain than I ever wanted to think about. I just wanted to be Samojirou's Sakura. Samojirou claimed that he understood the way I felt, but I knew he didn't.
Nippon was gathering their forces together, going to Kyushu to drive the Trust and the Southerners out. The fighting was going to be horrific, and I knew Samojirou would be in the middle of it. That filled me with fear, and I hated that I could not... would not join him on the battlefield. As much as I wanted to, I knew that should never happen. I knew I would never put down a katana again, were I to pick one up to fight. And it would not be because of my ancestor's reputation, but because I would not want to stop, because I would become a mad dog that needed to be put down. And it would break Samojirou's heart, something that I would never do again.
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Don't Miss the Beginning
DREAMLANDS
By Felicitas Ivey
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...a fantastic read, sure to thrill readers of the genre.
—Literary Nymphs
This debut novel from a new author is a stunning piece of work. Intricately plotted with fascinating world building and creative characters, this story captures interest immediately and carries it through to the end.
—Rainbow Reviews
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Felicitas Ivey is the pen name of a very frazzled helpdesk drone at a Boston-area university. She's an eternal student even with a BA in anthropology and history, since free classes are part of the benefits. She's taken courses on gothic architecture, premodern Japanese literature, and witchcraft, just because they sounded like fun. She has traveled to Japan and Europe and hopes to return to both in the future.
She knits and cross-stitches avidly, much to the disgust of her cat, Smaugu, who wants her undivided attention. He's also peeved that she spends so much time writing instead of petting him. She writes urban fantasy and horror of a Lovecraftian nature, monsters beyond space and time that think that humans are the tastiest things in the multiverse.
Felicitas lives in Boston with her beloved husband, known to all as The Husband, and the aforementioned cat, whom the husband swears is a demon, even though it's his fault that they have the cat. The husband also is worried about Felicitas's anime habit, her love for J-Pop music, and her extensive collection of yaoi manga and Gundam Wing doujinshi, which has turned her library into a Very Scary Place for him.
Visit her blogs at IveysTales.livejournal.com and felicitas ivey.dreamwidth.org, and her web site at felicitasivey.com. You can e-mail her at Felicitas.Ivey@gmail.com.
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Published by
Dreamspinner Press
4760 Preston Road
Suite 244-149
Frisco, TX 75034
www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Back to the Dream
Copyright (C) 2010 by Felicitas Ivey
Cover Art by Anne Cain annecain.art@gmail.com
Cover Design by Mara McKennen
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 4760 Preston Road, Suite 244-149, Frisco, TX 75034
www.dreamspinnerpress.com/
ISBN: 978-1-61581-620-0
Printed in the United States of America
First Edition
October, 2010
eBook edition available
eBook ISBN: 978-1-61581-621-7
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Visit www.dreamspinnerpress.com for information on additional titles by this and other authors.
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