by Milly Taiden
He raised his head. “I wish Melinda to return safely to Earth now.”
She gripped her arms around him. “No! You can’t do this.” Her eyes filled with fear and . . . desperation?
He unwrapped her arms from him and brought her hands to his lips. “Yes, I can. I love you, Melinda, and want you safe. I don’t understand how this wish stuff works—”
“Hamel, unwish what you just said. It works because we are in your dream world. Sefu sent your spirit here. Not your real body, like mine. This is my reality, not yours. In dreams, you can make anything happen. Wish me to stay here.”
He kissed her fingers and shook his head. “No, my love. I want you safe. Destroy the serum. Have Sefu help you.” Cuzork stormed toward them. These would be his last words to her. “Find someone who makes you happy.”
Cuzork grabbed Melinda’s arm. With no warning, he flew back as if yanked away, slamming onto the ground on his back. Hamel no longer holding on to her, Melinda was dragged by an invisible force into the portal circle. A see-through wall of yellow light surrounded her. She banged against the solid air, her shouts not breaching the invisible barrier.
He wasn’t sure his wish for her safety would happen. He didn’t really understand what she’d said about him dreaming. Turning from his love, he saw Cuzork raise his hands, aimed at her. Even though she didn’t love him, he would die for her. Hamel screamed to attract his attention and ran toward the downed demon, sword raised high, ready to strike.
The demon’s head snapped toward him, hands readjusting then sending thick bolts of electricity into his body. Pure pain zapped every cell in his body. Fortunately, he died quickly.
***
Melinda beat her fists against the yellow light trapping her in the portal. “Hamel, no. Don’t do this!” He turned from her, either ignoring or not hearing her pleas. He’d told her he loved her, and she believed him. His eyes said it all.
She should have repeated his words to him, but once again, the fucking fear overrode her heart. She so wanted to have control over her fear. Stop missing out on happiness because of one guy from the past who hurt her. But now she had to find a way out of this damn beam. Was she really going to give the serum to the Demon King to save Hamel?
Yes, she was.
Her love ran at Cuzork on the ground. Before her eyes, she watched him die.
Everything in her stilled.
His body settled on the dusty ground, sword bouncing harmlessly away. A tiny white dot of light rose from his chest and floated just on the other side of her prison. Unconditional love and peace flowed through her. The same euphoria she’d had when she imagined bonding with her savior black cat the other day in her home.
She had no doubt this was Hamel’s spirit sharing what he felt for her. It was so strong, so reassuring. Knowing how much he loved her, her fear of rejection was gone. With Hamel at her side, she realized they could conquer anything the world threw at them.
His last words floated in her mind: Find someone who makes you happy. She had.
Him.
The light zipped away, gone from her sight. She’d just lost who she knew would be her greatest love. Guilt, sadness, anger rose inside her, eating away the last of her energy. Extreme exhaustion overtook her consciousness.
In the darkness, she smelled the acidic bite of a campfire. She hadn’t been camping since summer bible camp as a child. The sweetness of flowers, the earthiness of mud, and the tang of blood quickly followed. A voice registered in her brain. The witch doctor. Maybe Sefu could save Hamel. She forced her eyes open.
She sucked in a breath. “Sefu?” Her vision was fuzzy in the low light. The chanting stopped. Melinda launched herself toward the man sitting next to the fire. “Please save him, Sefu. I was wrong. I love him and I’m not afraid anymore. I see how powerful real love is. We can make it.”
The old man peeled her off him and held her at arm’s length. He stared at her for a second then turned his head and looked to the side. Melinda followed his sight line and saw Hamel lying on the floor in the shadows. She dove toward him, letting her tears flow for all the stupid mistakes she’d made where it came to him and her feelings.
She laid her head on his chest and wrapped her arms under his neck. His heart beat strong under her ear. Wait. He was dead. She'd watched him die.
“No, child.” Sefu gave a frustrated sigh. “He is alive. Nothing in this plane hurt his physical body, so he lives. Only his soul, his spirit, is gone. Why are you back without him?” Melinda scrambled back to the witch doctor.
“The demon king killed him when I was protected by the tractor beam in the portal.”
His face scrunched. “The what beam?”
“Never mind,” she said. She’d forgotten this man grew up without television or movies. “I saw and felt Hamel’s spirit leave his body after Cuzork shot bolts of lightning at him.”
Sefu jerked upon hearing the demon’s name. “That piece of bug dung is doing all this?”
“Yes,” Melinda said. “Can we save Hamel?”
“He is still alive. He was in a dream state, not reality. So his spirit lives on in the demon plane.” He shook her shoulders to get her full attention. “Had the sun set before you left?”
She thought back to the last thing she remembered. “No, part of the sun was still up.”
“Good.” Sefu dragged three bowls toward him and dipped his fingers into each. “You have until the last ray of the sun to convince him to return to our plane. If you fail, his body will remain in a vegetative state on this side.” He wiped fingers down her arms and cheeks. “Tell him how you feel, little one. Do not let your past control your future.” He began his chanting.
Soothing, lyrical, intoxicating. With the heat in the room, Melinda relaxed and let her mind wander.
Chapter Forty-two
Hamel floated freely along the desert environ. He didn’t feel any different, but he knew he was no longer constrained to a body. That must be what happened when you died. He thought he’d turn into a speck of light and go somewhere, but he didn’t have any thoughts about where. Most humans believed in heaven and hell. But his parents weren’t religious, so he never was, either.
How long had he been dead? Time seemed to have no meaning. Or he just wasn’t able to keep track of it like a human did. Either way, he was tired of looking at the same dead dirt ground and blowing dust and sand. He thought back to his home and the acreage his family lived on when he was a child. The land was filled with trees, fields of thick grass, and a gurgling creek not too far from the house. He really wished that was here.
The sound of a songbird stopped him. That was the first animal sound he’d heard since coming to this godforsaken place. A bird? There wasn’t one tree for the critter to live in. He turned, even though he didn’t have a body, per se, and saw the most beautiful landscape—his home, actually. Exactly how he saw it in his ethereal mind.
Wait a minute. How could that be? His mind thought back to the gun that showed up out of nowhere, then the ammo. The door that appeared when he needed a way outside to get to Melinda sliding down the tied bedsheets. The cloak and hamburger he wished for. Everything he’d wished for or wanted, he magically got.
But he wasn’t a demon; how had it happened? Melinda’s words came back to him. It works because we are in your dream world. In dreams, you can make anything happen.
Was he really dreaming? Okay, he needed to think about this logically. He was dead, which meant no body, which meant he couldn’t turn into his animal. “I wish to be in my jaguar form.” Instantly, he found himself on ground level. He looked down at paws and black fur. So that was the trick. In dreams, you could have anything you wanted.
His animal ears perked up. A voice came on the wind. Melinda’s. He honed in on the sound and took off in that direction. Was she back? Why? How? Then it dawned on him. Sefu sent her for something. Hamel wished
to be by her side. When he blinked, she was in front of him. He could get used to this.
Melinda spun around. “Jag! You’re here.” She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He inhaled deeply. She still smelled unbelievable. Wait. Was this real or just a wish?
She rubbed her face on his. “Oh my god. I thought I’d lost you, too.”
His purr was automatic. She was here with him. This was all he wanted. But then she sat on her heels and cupped his animal’s face in her hands.
“Jag”—she looked deeply into his eyes—“I need you to understand me.” He nodded since he couldn’t talk. Her eyes widened. Oh, shit. He just gave himself away. Her beautiful peepers about to pop out of her head, she continued. “Jag, you’re creeping me out, but we’ll worry about that later because I’m in a dream state, I hope.”
Interesting. How in the hell would this work?
She swallowed hard. “Jag, I need to find Parish Hamel. He’s . . .” She paused. “He’s the love of my life, Jag. I don’t want to live without him. I was so afraid of what would happen if I let myself be vulnerable with him. Last time I did, I was hurt beyond repair. So I thought.
“But Hamel fixed me. He showed me through his own actions what real love is. And to open up isn’t being weak, but being strong enough to reveal your true self to another. I was such an idiot, Jag. But I didn’t know.” She breathed in a wobbly breath. “You haven’t by chance seen a dot of white light floating around, have you?”
Before he could respond, Cuzork’s voice cut through the air. “I knew you’d come back, female.” The demon stood with a small army of demon guards who looked exactly like pictures he’d seen of China’s first emperor’s burial site of thousands of terra-cotta soldiers.
Fuck. Now he understood how everything in this place looked so familiar: the palace, the Death Valley desert, the guards, the food, the humanlike people. He’d seen all of it or something very similar before. This world was conjured from his brain, his memories.
It all made sense now. He’d never seen a demon, so the image of a demon was a blob of black material, nothing specific. He hadn’t seen the palace until Wilson said it was there and he had to believe—wish—it was there. Everything he wished for was granted, based on what was in his head.
Cuzork raised a hand and a gust of wind knocked both him and Melinda out of the portal circle. “I’ve had enough of this.” Demon eyes narrowed on his cat. “I see you have discovered the magic of this place, literally. So we have a change of plans for getting the serum.”
His jag picked up the scent of anger from his mate. Melinda’s hands fisted into balls. “I am so sick of you and this fucking serum.” She slid her fingers between her breasts and pulled out a plastic vial. “Is this what you want, Cuzork?” She held it up and, with her thumb, popped up the cork top.
The demon’s eyes turned into red dots. “You had it here all along.” A wicked smile etched his face. “Clever woman. I don’t give you enough credit. Seems your realm hasn’t taught me enough about the female species. Your movies show women to be weak, dumb, and constantly talking. Seems I need to spend time in your dimension learning how current women have changed.”
“Yes, you need to update yourself, demon, on more than just females. You’ll find the human race is no longer scared of things that go bump in the night. We won’t sit idly by and let others do what they want if it harms others.”
Cuzork stalked toward her. “Shut up and give me the serum.” Fear flashed in her eyes. She looked at the ground. “No, you don’t, bitch.” A solid slick surface instantly covered the ground. “Any drop you pour from that tube, I will easily gather. So just give it to me.”
Hamel watched panic settle on her face. She didn’t know what to do now. So she did the unthinkable.
Chapter Forty-three
Melinda was just about to have a cow. She’d planned to empty the vial on the dust-covered ground, which would easily soak up the liquid. But this new floor the demon conjured looked the exact opposite of what she wanted.
Then she remembered she was in dream mode and made the decision. She brought the vial to her lips and tossed it back like a toddy on a cold night. Cuzork stopped in his tracks.
Melinda threw the small container to the side. “There you go, demon. No more serum. Kiss your plan good-bye.”
The king turned slightly toward his army. “Lamo, heel.”
From the men, Wilson floated to the king’s foot, eyes lowered. “Yes, Your Highness.”
“Lamo, my pet, kill the cat now. My men will bring the woman to the palace. She will now bear us children to possess until the day she dies. My plan will continue with only a slight delay.”
Wilson floated in place, shaking in fright and staring at his cat. “Why me, Your Highness?”
The demon king slowly turned to the lesser entity. “Because I’m hoping the cat will kill you before you kill him. Then one of my pains in the ass will be gone without me lifting a finger.”
The king turned and his army split in half to allow him a path through. Several made a beeline toward Melinda. She stiffened and spoke under her breath, “You will not touch him, Cuzork. I wish a sword in each hand and to be the best sword fighter this place has ever seen.”
The next second, she ran toward their enemy, two long, narrow blades in her hands, a battle cry screaming from her lips. With a blur of hands, feet, and body, she mowed over the guards coming for her. Each direct strike popped a creature into oblivion. Just like taking a sewing needle into a field of balloons and jabbing at superhuman speed.
The rest of the military stared as if not knowing what to do. They wouldn’t until their creator, Cuzork, told them. They were nothing but useless puppets until their leader put his hand up their asses.
The horde now charging, she noted her jag had extended his claws and taken up fighting. Shit, she hadn’t anticipated that, but she should have. She yelled, “Jag, I wish your fur to be impenetrable like armor so no hit will hurt you.” Her sword sliced through three men. Pop, pop, pop. She felt so badass right at that moment.
Melinda glanced at the cat to make sure he’d be all right. She couldn’t be sure, but when the group of six men slashed at him at the same time, his body only jarred like being pushed, but nothing else. His paws swept the men’s midsections, creating pop after pop.
Melinda heard footsteps behind her and spun. She kicked, punched, slashed, and body-slammed her way through the enemy. Behind the demons, over half of the sun was below the horizon. She had to end this and find Hamel.
She sliced a warrior in half while she was midair and landed in an attack stance. Her eyes met Cuzork’s, swords lifted. In her peripheral view, she saw claws dig into dirt as Jag sprinted toward the king. Her eyes didn’t move, giving away no hints of the coming attack. The jag leapt at the demon, taking the creature to the ground in a hard slam.
She watched as the cat morphed into Hamel, his arm wrapped around the demon’s neck, securing him in a sleeper hold. His eyes sought hers. She stood, arms slack at her sides, swords dropped on the ground, mouth gaping at him.
With the king’s capture, the remaining guards disappeared. Cuzork croaked, “Transform—” Hamel flexed his huge bicep, cutting off further words. Was the demon calling Hamel a transformer? When she realized what that word meant, she felt the blood drain from her face. Hamel transformed into her savior jaguar? But— How— He—
Worry coated his face. “Melinda, sweetheart, we’ll talk when we get back. We don’t have much time.” Hamel looked around. “Wilson? Where are you? Get over here.”
In a blink, a dark blob that resembled a huge raisin with eyes, nose, and a mouth appeared at Hamel’s side. She snatched up her swords.
“No, Melinda. He’s with me. He’s okay.” Hamel winked at her. “Watch what I figured out on my own.” Her love turned to the floating raisin. “Wilson, clos
e your eyes and picture something in your . . . well, I was going to say head, but I’m not sure that works for you.” He cleared his throat. “Picture something you really want and make a wish that it was here.”
The hovering blob stared at Hamel. “I do not understand, Clint.” Melinda couldn’t help the snort that escaped her, hearing his “name” again. Hamel scowled at her but continued with the blob.
“Wilson, haven’t you ever wanted something you didn’t have?”
“No, Clint. I have all I want thanks to the king. He has granted us the needs to survive.”
Melinda realized how simple this demon’s life must be. He didn’t seem like a bad guy, but humble.
Hamel rolled his eyes, the king still trapped in his arms. “Let’s go about this a different way, Wilson. If you could have anything you don’t have, what would that be? Close your eyes and say ‘I wish’ whatever.”
Wilson’s eyes slowly looked at the king’s then looked down. “I—I do not—”
Hamel sighed. “Wilson—”
“Okay. I wish to have a human body.” Suddenly standing in front of her was an image of Zac Efron. That was interesting. The floating creature seemed to be surprised. “I have been told I could not have a humanlike image because I was too worthless, too nothing.” The new person examined his body, smile wide, eyes shining. “Is this body pleasing, Clint? I saw a picture of this person when the children where learning pig Latin.”
Pig Latin? She looked at Clint— Hamel. He nodded. “Yes, Wilson. From what I understand, that is a very appealing image. What else would you like to have?”
From nowhere, a black upright piano materialized. Hamel and Melinda looked at Wilson. The demon said, “I heard it one time. It has beautiful sounds.” Then a few chickens popped into existence. “These creatures made me feel happy when watching them. They are fun and intriguing. The way the white ball that comes out of their—”
“Got it, Wilson,” Hamel said. “Do you understand how the king’s magic works now? It didn’t belong to only the king, but to everyone. He simply refused to tell others how to use it because he wanted the power all to himself.
