Tangled Dreams

by Cecilia Dominic

  Damien wondered if Rizzo put everything in categories. "Pretty much. But this one was naked, too."

  Rizzo's eyebrows crawled up his forehead like two furry caterpillars. "Naked?"

  Damien hid his smile. He didn't think much could surprise his old friend at this point. Rizzo looked more like a mad scientist than a medical provider with his round lenses over alert green-gray eyes, gray beard that needed to be trimmed, and sunken cheeks from too many missed meals on busy nights. In other words, like someone who had seen everything and who might have done much of it himself.

  "Naked." He blinked to clear the image of her athletic frame from his mind. "And seemingly fine with it, too. So you might want to run a full drug screen."

  "Will do, Doctor Lewis. Actually, already have. The lab was backed up, but I should have the results from the first two in a few hours."

  Damien hadn't heard any indication he'd offended his friend, but he held up his hands palm-out. "No offense. I'll leave all the doctoring to you guys in the white coats."

  Rizzo didn't laugh. Instead, he stroked his beard and leaned against the counter at the triage station.

  Oh, god, I did insult him? Damien forced a grin. "Think of something, Doc?"

  "That depends. I'm always thinking of something, but since we have a lull right now while they triage your nymph, let's go back to my office."

  Damien hesitated—he'd done his part, after all, and he needed to get back to his patrol. But he respected Rizzo as a doctor, especially after he had patched Damien up after a firefight one night. Damien had been caught without decent cover and still had the scars on his legs, one dangerously near his groin. It would make for a great story if he ever had women over, but then they'd get all concerned about his ability to have kids. Not that he wanted any. Not right now, probably not ever. No one needed his crazy genes.

  Deciding if he could trust Rizzo with those parts of him, he could also trust the doctor with his time, Damien followed him out of the E.R. Rizzo's caterpillar brows now met over his nose, and Damien bit back the questions he wanted to ask. They went through a couple of white tiled hallways, up two floors on the elevator, and to Rizzo's office, which overlooked the ambulance docking bay. Damien had expected something more hectic, but everything on Rizzo's desk sat in neat piles, his bookshelves full but uncluttered. Small statues of bizarre human-animal forms, each made of stone or wood, stood among the books.

  "Nice office." And then, because he couldn't help it, "Why are we here?"

  "Thanks. Being the department head has perks." Rizzo perused his bookshelves. "What do you know of Greek mythology?"

  Damien tried to remember back to high school English class, but he couldn't recall much through the confusion. "Twelve gods and goddesses, fought a lot, screwed with humans for fun."

  Rizzo chuckled. "Yeah, something like that. Do you know anything of the lesser beings?"

  When he had been a child, Damien had loved to read about the escapades of Hercules and Prometheus, and the memories dribbled into his mind. "When I was a kid, I soaked the stuff up. But that was a long time ago."

  "Not so long." Rizzo pulled a large, brightly colored volume from the shelves and handed it to Damien. "Read that for a review."

  "A review of what?" Damien tried to hide his reaction, but his hands shook, and he was transported to the first time he'd seen that particular volume in the tiny library in his home town. His grandmother had suggested it to him and had talked about the Greek gods like they'd been real people to her. He remembered the almost psychedelic colors and the picture of Apollo on the front of it, in his sun chariot with the white stallions. "This is the one I had as a kid." He looked up. "But what does it have to do with the Jane Does?"

  "If you've read it before, you should get through it quickly. We'll discuss its relevance later. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to stitch up the hands of the young woman you brought in. They should have her cleaned up soon."

  "Is she ready?" Damien shook his head to bring him back into the present.

  A harsh beeping filled the room: Rizzo's pager. "She is now."

  The next morning, Audrey sat at her kitchen table, a mug of coffee cooling in her hands, and had the argument with herself again. She knew she must seem crazy because the cat sat a good six feet away and looked at her quizzically.

  It was real, her journalistic instincts told her.

  Her logical self replied, It was only a dream.

  But it seemed so real!

  You always have vivid dreams.

  But this one was different. Who dreams up a vegetarian dragon?

  It was your subconscious saying you should've had salad last night instead of pizza. Way to go with the comfort eating.

  This isn't working. She stood. I shouldn't have stress-eaten after Kyle ditched me. I'll take a walk and grab breakfast at Java Lemur. That'll clear my head.

  Athena licked her paw as if to say, Is that the only reason you're going?

  "Fine. I'll see that cute cop if I time it right." The shadow on his cheeks and the fatigue in his eyes told her the cute policeman stopped by at the end of his shift. Then it would be time to get to work on the assignment she and J.J. had discussed the day before—the Decatur Dish wanted an article on a restaurant that had just opened, and she had applied for a serving job to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on the place. Her interview was at ten-thirty.

  Audrey left her duplex on Sycamore, a quiet, residential street with smaller houses that had been built during the transition from bungalow to ranch styles. Hers had been split into two parts, the other half inhabited by Lucy, professionally known by the name Madame Lucia, who had a little palm-reading shop on Lawrenceville Highway. Audrey paused and almost knocked on her neighbor's door to see if she might have any answers—in a purely hypothetical sense, of course—but shook her head and went on her way. What would she do if the psychic said she was crazy? Then she'd really be screwed.

  Instead, she headed to downtown Decatur, where she knew a good cup of coffee and breakfast awaited her. Or a caffeine and carb escape. Whatever worked. The sign out front with the wide-eyed lemur clutching a little ceramic cup like a furry caffeine fiend always made her smile.

  When she got there, she noticed that the store beside it, which had always sold international, mostly far Eastern, knickknacks, jewelry, and saris, had been replaced by a magic and crystal store. Her heart skipped a beat when she saw the name: The Crystal Cave. It wasn't open yet, but prominently displayed in the front window was a little purple dragon with gold wings and emerald eyes that seemed to wink at her.

  "Zin?" she thought, then shook her head. There's no way… But the beginning of the dream, which had eluded her memory, came back with clarity.

  A cloudy gray sky seemed moments away from erupting in an almighty thunderstorm. Her heart beat in her throat, and her skin tingled with the electricity in the air. She stood in a field of wheat, which glowed bright yellow-gold against the gloom. The sobbing and wailing resumed, and Audrey walked toward the sound.

  A small group of people gathered at the edge of the wheat field. Toppled stalks revealed a jagged gash in the ground, two feet wide and about ten feet long. It pulsed with scarlet light like a window to Hell.

  "My baby! He took my baby." A woman in the center of the gathering wailed, and the wind swirled her long robes the colors of autumn leaves. A man and another woman, both in business attire, tried to comfort her.

  "Of course he didn't—he's standing right over there." The tall man with salt and pepper hair and a clean-shaven square jaw gestured to a younger man with long blond hair and beard. The older man's pinstripe suit contrasted with the younger one's casual black attire.

  "Demeter, we don't know what happened, but we'll figure it out." The petite woman sounded like she’d softened her tone in an attempt to be soothing, but Audrey heard distress, too. She struggled to remember why the name Demeter was familiar. A Greek goddess, perhaps?

  "Come with me," a voice whispered in her ear. "T
here are many things not right in this world, and we need your help."

  A dragon with shimmering purple scales, big green eyes, and golden wings stood behind Audrey. She stepped back and jumped when a wheat stalk snapped under her foot.

  "You're not part of Greek mythology." She crossed her arms and cocked her head, challenging him to justify his presence in her dream.

  "Honey, what I'm about to tell you is gonna rock your mythology." With a wink, the dragon turned away from the group and the mourning Demeter.

  Oh, what the hell? Audrey followed him and found herself in a cave. The inside resembled the core of a geode, but on a massive scale. Amethyst crystals lined every inch of the perfect dome and sparkled with light from candles in wrought-iron sconces. A plush, dark green layer of vegetation covered the floor. An old-fashioned open hearth in the middle of the cave held a smoldering fire, and the smoke curled up through a hidden ventilation shaft in the top, but it still had a pleasant wood fire smell.

  The dragon cocked his head. "My associate is on her way. I think I hear her now."

  "Knock knock." A young woman about Audrey's age entered and ducked to keep from hitting her head on a protruding crystal. She wore a long, light blue satin gown embroidered with silver, and a matching ribbon tied her strawberry blonde hair back.

  Audrey blinked herself back into the waking world, which seemed to blur into her dreams. The smoke from Zin's fire had the same odor she'd smelled yesterday when J.J. had driven her home.

  "Coincidence, that's all," she muttered, like hearing her own voice say it would make it more believable, never mind that talking to herself wouldn't help her appearance of sanity. "I obviously haven't been eating enough vegetables, and I must have seen something like this statuette before."

  She tried to push the dream out of her mind as she walked into the coffee shop and found herself in the middle of the kind of weirdness that made her wonder if she was, indeed, awake.

  2

  Audrey stopped just inside the door and stared. Two girls in diaphanous green dresses and glittery wings stood in front of the pastry case and debated over which treats would make them too heavy to fly. The barista didn't seem to think it was odd, but then, he had horns growing out of his head and wore strange, furry pants under a tailored hipster shirt. Meanwhile, a couple of short, stocky, bearded men in rough work clothes sat and sipped at large coffee mugs that looked more like beer steins. In addition to the barista, there seemed to be another presence behind the counter, a patch of fog that moved as though preparing drinks.

  Audrey almost backed out of the café, but she took a deep breath and joined the line. Maybe they're in costume. Is the Decatur Halloween parade today? Is this a side effect of the sleeping pills Kyle gave me? Another thing to ask if he ever comes over again.

  Her stomach again twisted with the feeling something was terribly wrong, but ten times stronger than the day before. I've been too much in my head lately. Maybe I need a vacation. She hadn't even noticed the store next door moving, and she'd been here every day except when she'd gone to a Halloween parade in Little 5 Points. She preferred to blend into the background, to watch rather than be observed.

  She ordered and paid for a coffee and muffin, and she was so busy gawking at the strange costumes on the way down to the seating area that she almost ran into the one human-looking guy who stood in line—her coffee shop cop. She stepped back to avoid sloshing her coffee, but one of the fairy-looking girls turned, and Audrey lost her balance trying to avoid being poked by a wing. A pair of strong hands reached out and steadied her. She looked up and found herself inches from his gray eyes. Something like electricity jolted through her, and she had to drop her gaze to his metal nametag, which said, "Lewis."

  "Thank you," she said and looked back at his face. He had a dimple in one cheek, and the stubble on his face gave him an almost dangerous look. But she had to say something. "I'm such a klutz first thing without my coffee."

  "You're welcome," he replied with a smile, and the dimple deepened. "It's last thing for me, and I'm the same way without that final pickup." The pressure of his hands eased, but he didn't release her completely. "You steady now?"

  "Yes," she said. She wished she hadn't when he let go of her arms, leaving cold spots where his fingers had been. Her heart beat in her throat, and she couldn't help but notice the dark circles under his eyes, which were striking with his coloring. Damn, even tired looked good on him.

  She didn't want their encounter to end, so she offered, "Please let me get you a cup of coffee for saving me from falling down the stairs."

  "That's quite all right." He had reached the front of the line, and the horned barista handed him a coffee.

  "No charge, sir," the creature said in a squeaky voice. "Thanks for stopping by and for your service."

  "Thanks," the police officer said.

  "Can I get you a muffin or something?" Audrey persisted. "The chocolate chip ones are quite good."

  "I appreciate it, but it's not necessary."

  Audrey followed him to the side bar, where he put cream in his coffee. Keep talking, keep talking… "Do you get free pastries, too?"

  He shook his head, and Audrey noticed the flush in his cheeks.

  "Oh, no, I didn't mean to imply you shouldn't." Her face heated. "I'm sorry, I should let you go protect and serve or whatever it is you do." She bit her tongue. "And that sounded even worse."

  He turned back to her, his expression bemused—thank goodness—rather than insulted. "Maybe you should drink some more coffee," he said. "And try to have a nice day."

  She watched him leave through the back door to the patio and couldn't help but notice his butt still looked pretty amazing in his uniform pants.

  What the hell was that? I don't usually get flustered, and him being a hot guy shouldn't matter since I have a boyfriend.

  But I was a lot closer to having breakfast with him than with Kyle. Not that I could ever date a cop.

  She pushed the old, sad thoughts away and avoided looking at the other patrons. She held her head high as she left, but one of the winged girls snickered, probably at her.

  The crystal and magic store was open when she came out. Needing something to distract her from her self-bashing thoughts—Officer Lewis must think I'm an idiot—she checked her watch: eight-thirty. Early for retail, but maybe they were trying for pre-Halloween business. Maybe they've got something that can calm my dreams. What are those net-looking things with the dangly pieces called? Dream catchers. She took another look at the dragon and pushed through the door.

  "Man, some guys have all the luck." Lieutenant Charles Allen MacKenzie caught up to Damien later that morning. He'd had to return to the station after leaving his house keys in his locker. Sleep deprivation was a bitch, and coffee could only do so much.

  Jolted out of his haze—why couldn't he just be left alone?—Damien rubbed his eyes. He tipped the coffee cup to dislodge that last drop before replying, "Yeah, Charlie, my body doesn't like being on nights, and I managed to not talk too long to a pretty girl at Java Lemur when I stopped by earlier. Some lucky bastard I am."

  "C'mon, dude, forget about the coffee shop chick."

  "She was kinda cute when she got flustered," Damien murmured. "Really pretty green eyes. She offered to buy me breakfast." I should've been nicer. She must think I'm an idiot or a jerk. But he'd never been good with women. Had never bothered to learn how.

  Of course Charlie pounced on the information. "But she was wearing clothes, right? You get to haul three beautiful women to the E.R., one of them buck naked, and then some hot girl wants to buy you food, and you don't consider yourself fortunate?"

  "Not really." Damien laced his fingers behind his head and stretched. "But you're jealous, aren't you? You haven't gotten that close to a naked woman since Academy, when you tried to seduce Cindy Lawson for her forensic notes."

  "It would've worked, too, if she'd taken any."

  Damien snorted at his friend's rueful expression. He coul
dn't be jealous of Charlie even if they'd graduated from Police Academy in the same class. Charlie had quickly risen through the ranks and been made a detective and a special lieutenant with an office. Damien, on the other hand, was still a uniformed officer who rotated on and off night shift and took whatever computer was available if he had to correct a report.

  Yeah, yeah, that's my choice. It keeps me from having to date.

  "Your three Jane Does' cases have been given to my team to investigate," Charlie said, "so I've got some questions for you before we try to talk to them."

  Damien just wanted to go home and sleep, but he knew he'd feel better with his friend managing their cases, so he said, "There's not much to tell, but go ahead. Everything should be in my reports."

  Charlie rubbed his temple with his pen. "That's the problem."

  "What is?"

  "The reports. All they have filled out are the times they were filed and your name. Nothing else."

  "What?" Damien swallowed against the rush of adrenaline. "They were complete when I uploaded them."

  "That's what Cherie said. Even saw the sergeant's signature on them. But now they're blank."

  "Damn computers." Damien's heart thudded and his face heated. Had he been so tired he’d fallen asleep in his car and only dreamed he saved them? But the clerk had seen the reports. "I don't know what to tell you, Charlie. I'll redo them before I go."

  "Nah, don't bother right now, just give me the scoop."

  Damien fished the memories from his fatigue-fogged brain. "The first call came in October seventeenth. Some chick in a weird outfit wandering down College Avenue."

  Charlie scribbled in his notepad. "Okay. What'd you do?"

  "Picked her up. Good thing, too, since she looked like she might try to climb the fence to the tracks. Might have already tried. Her hands were scratched, so I ended up taking her to the DeKalb E.R. after she said she needed help."