Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Erin gasped as the images swarmed before her. Images of destruction and pain and suffering. What has happening?

She let out a tiny scream. She tried to point out where she was but none of it made sense. It was like she was in nothing and everything at the same time.

No! She screamed again. She felt her throat lock up and she knew that she was trapped. In this vision or what ever it was.

“Erin!”

That was jake’s voice. She heard it faintly but couldn’t point out where it was coming from.

“Sis! Wake up! Come on!”

Erin let out another piercing scream that shook her whole body.

No! No! No!

“Erin... everything will be alright my baby girl.”

It was her mother’s soothing voice. Erin sighed happily. Her mother was here with her. She was safe.

“Mummy, what is happening?”

“My child.. your powers are becoming more visible and because of that, you’re in more danger. You need to be careful my daughter. Don’t let these revelations destroy you!”

“Mom I don’t know what you mean! Please stay with me!” Erin cried.

Erin let out a scream as she watched her mother disappear into thin air. She kept calling for her but nothing. Everything went blank and then Erin finally opened her eyes.

Julian released a breath as she finally opened her eyes. He thought she was gone for a second. She was fine.

“Erin... look at me. You’re safe. I’m here, your brother and your friend is here. Nothing happened to you. You’re safe.”

“Sis... you’re alright...” Jake whispered in his sweet childish voice. Making Erin smile with tears in her eyes.

“What the hell happened Erin?” Feesh demanded, the worry evident in her eyes. “One minute you were sound asleep with Jake in your arms the next you were screaming and strangling him.”

Erin gasped and turned to her brother. “I hurt you?” She whispered shockingly.

“No sis you didn’t. I’m fine. Tell us what happened. Was it a dream?”

“No, it was a... sort of like a vision.” Erin replied.

“What kind of vision?” Julian asked worriedly.

“I..i do not really know...”

“What did you see?” Julian asked

“I-I can’t say.”

“Can’t or won’t?” Why wouldn’t she tell him? What was she hiding?

“Can’t. I don’t understand the images. They’re just these insane pictures that make no sense. Like a mash-up. A collage of unrelated instances that don’t tell any story. I’m going mad.” Erin gasped. “I didn’t mean to say that last part.”

“Explain it now.”

“Do you always get what you want? A simple please would get you a long way.” Erin frowned at Julian. He was such a bully.

“Yes.”

“Yes what?”

“Yes, I always get what I want. And please, explain it now.” Julian replied. His voice hard as a rock.

When Jake narrowed his eyes to dangerous-looking slits, chills blasted up his arms. Little mortal hellion. He would’ve made an intimidating adversary in the dragon wars. He was ready to beat anyone for his sister without remorse.

“Can you all leave us alone please? I need to talk to Erin privately.” Julian said, his eyes never leaving her face.

“You’re on to something else if you think I’ll let my sister stay—”

“Jake please.” Erin cut in, sending her brother a plea. “Just go and spend some time with Feesh. I think we really need to talk.” She gestured towards Julian.

Jake stared at her for a moment, unsure. Before she nodded his head and left after everyone had left.

That left Erin and Julian alone.

“Tell me.” Julian said.

“My grandma went crazy with what she called the sight. Dreams and headaches and visions of awful things. She was stark raving mad by the time she passed. Clawing at the walls of a padded room and screaming about monsters that had eaten each other up. I’m the same as her. I’ll have the same fate. I already feel myself slipping into these visions. They feel so real I think I have some kind of connection to a different dimension or something. That’s how it starts, you know? Thinking your hallucinations are real. I even bought into my own hype so much that I sank all of my savings into a crappy store in a shopping center where I read palms and tarot cards. I even have a crystal ball. Pretty lame, huh?”

“Mmm,” he said noncommittally. If she didn’t know her own power, he wasn’t going to enlighten her on how dangerous she could be.

His response had been wrong because Erin's shoulders slumped, and she leaned against the door, far away from him. Before he could change his mind, he asked, “Why did you hug me?”

He had been shocked when she’d reached up to him and pressed her cheeks to his chest before they parted ways the night after the games.

“Because it felt right.” Her answer was quick and honest.

“Why?”

“Because you feel safe. Stupid, right? More proof I’m broken and so are my instincts. You’re a vampire, dragon warlock and what not, and yet I haven’t felt so comfortable since…”

“Since what? Finish it. Please.”

“Since my parents.” When she looked at him, her eyes were filled with such sadness, he had to look away. He’d read her file and knew the bare bones of what she’d been through. She’d been a happy child once.

Julian wanted to hold her hand. He wanted to touch her. Kiss her until she forgot all about the sadness. He knew about losing someone. He knew all about insides being ripped up. He couldn’t do anything to save the people he had loved over the centuries. With just a despairing look at him, she’d reminded him how heavy the burden of loneliness could be. Dangerous Erin Dexter. Clenching his hands against the urge to pull her against his side, he did the only thing he knew how. He pushed her away. “You’re right, Erin Dexter. Your instincts are broken.”

****

Erin sat there stunned. The smile had faded from Julian's face, and his eyes glinted dangerously in the dark. His expression had morphed into the stoic mask where she couldn’t tell if he liked or loathed her. It was the face he wore the most, and she hated it.

When Seb pulled the car to a stop in front of Julian's house, the warlock dropped his gaze and shoved out of the car. “Seb,” he barked out, “see her to her room.” And then he disappeared inside.

Numbly, Erim followed the now quiet driver through the front doors. She followed him down the cold marble hallway that seemed to stretch for miles. She followed him past statues and fountains, past winding staircases and what looked like an old-fashioned ballroom. Sconces and chandeliers and wooden doors stretched to three times her height, and it all combined to give her a single feeling—frigid emptiness. Julian had decorated this place without any warmth at all.

Perhaps it was he who was broken.

Seb adjusted the strap of her duffle bag on his shoulder and shoved open a heavy wooden door that had been painted a cream color. The paint was worn and chipped, and it looked as if it had been taken from some ancient castle. Inside, the guestroom was bigger than her entire apartment in Florida. There was white wainscoting along the walls, and intricate crown molding around every window and along the entirety of the ceiling. Above the wainscoting was wallpaper in a mauve floral print that should’ve felt outdated and dull, but paired with the four poster bed with the gauze curtains, the room looked quite elegant and comfortable. There was a sitting area, and a set of French doors were open to a sprawling balcony that overlooked the waterfall she’d seen earlier.

It was a room fit for a queen, and Erin was definitely trailing trailer-park dirt all over the pristine dark wood floors.

Surprised by the contrast to the sterile white corridors, she murmured, “This room is so different than the rest of the house.”

Seb nodded and smiled, then pointed to a room off the main and said, “The bathroom is through there. Sleep as late as you like.” He hovered at the doorway where he’d set her bag down as if he wanted to say more, but turned abruptly instead and closed the door behind him, leaving her alone in the enormous room.

The shower was roughly the size of her bedroom at home, and when she finally figured out how to turn on the hot tap, water fell like rain from the ceiling. She washed the travel dirt from her skin and towel dried her hair, then readied for bed in a daze. Her mind circled around Julian, from the contract to him breaking the glass in his office and talking with Suriya, from his agonized roar to the estate Mobile Park, and then back—always back—to that stunning dimple-smile he’d given over and over again tonight. He was the most interesting, yet confounding man she’d ever met. And even more terrifying than her interest in a cold man was the bone-deep desire that unfurled in her belly anytime he was around. She was giving him the power to hurt her, and for what? She hadn’t known him long enough to care about what made him tick.

Erin closed the terrace doors, turned off the lights, and buried herself under the plush covers of the bed. With a frown, she looked over at the wall beside her. What if he was there on the other side? She didn’t know for sure, but she could almost sense him, almost picture him, restless in his own bed, as she was in hers.

She scooted to the side of the bed she imagined was closest to him and relaxed. It was there that she drifted off, as close to the cold warlock as she would ever sleep.

She thought about her brother and Feesh. Hopefully they were fine wherever they were and soon she would be able to see them. Erin couldn't imagine the reaction thy would be on her brother's face if she told him about the contract Sebastian and his boss had proposed for her.

He's definitely go mad with annoyance. No. She couldn't do it.

With a sigh, she drifted off.

******