Nightmares and Daydreams (The Blood Falls Book 4)

I had lost all track of time. Or, at least what I thought of as time. It felt like it had been days or even weeks, but since we no longer slept, no longer dreamt, and the sky was always dark blue, there was no way of knowing. Maybe it had only been a few hours.

Rome was gone. Flattened by dragons and sphinxes. Most major cities around the world had taken big hits. The humans were in hiding except for their militaries. They were more of a nuisance than anything else, thinking they somehow had the ability to fight the Convergence and the beasts that came with it. But they kept trying and we kept working around them.

“Rhysa needs rest,” Gigi said with a yawn.

“You’re one to talk.” Dray shot his sister a pointed look. No one’s gifts worked quite like they used to. Even Gigi’s. Except hers became more powerful, not less. Her ability to slide between worlds made her a formidable weapon in this new, combined world.

“Marhysa and the banshees have moved to the Australian front. There’s a sorcerer there that has killed everyone who has gotten within a hundred yards of him. I should go.”

I grabbed her hand to stop her. She should go, but not yet. She was right. We both needed some rest. “Blood is more important than ever.”

With our dreams gone, blood sharing was the only thing keeping us from losing focus, like the humans. The poor bastards had no way to cope with the lack of sleep. But we did. And it was important Gigi took what she needed before going to help anyone.

“I’ll drink and then I’ll leave. You should think about coming with me.” She shot us both a look before leaving for the blood tent.

“She’s right.” Together, Dray and I had become a force to be reckoned with. I helped more than once when a Head of House was hurt or killed. Fighting until someone could take up the armor again. And while in samhain form, Dray could slice through the griffin-like beasts and Grista with ease, in his dragon form he could do so much more.

He could kill them all.

There was indeed something very special about our combined DNA and linked minds.

“You’re just so tired,” Dray said as he took my hand.

“I’m not as tired as you think. Besides, there is no time to be tired. They’re relentless. If we let up, even for a moment, we lose.” And I refused to lose.

“Don’t worry, my love. This won’t be the last of us. I won’t let either of us die.” He brushed my hair back from my face.

Atsila ducked into the tent without a word of warning. All his furs were long gone. It was too hot to wear much more than the necessary armor. Even then, sweat had become a permanent part of my body. Atsila’s beard had grown down to his chest. He was dirty and always wore a scowl.

“There’s a problem.”

“When isn’t there a problem?” Dray sighed.

“This is different. Wrong.”

That got my attention. “Wrong how?”

His chin rose and he didn’t speak right away, almost as if he were afraid to say it out loud. “They’ve abandoned the fronts.”

Dray stiffened. “Where are they going?”

Atsila hesitated again. “Blood Falls.”

Ice slid through my veins. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “They aren’t even hiding it. They want us to know they’re headed for the heart of where we all came together. Maybe they think if they take out Blood Falls it will deal an emotional blow? Destabilize us?”

That was a possibility, but it could also be something else. “They thought they had the advantage. That they could surprise us and tether the worlds together. Instead, we were ready and waiting. They aren’t prepared for a sustained war like we are. They’re losing. This is a last-ditch effort to win.”

Both males stared at me, but I knew I was right. I felt it. Maybe it was the Plane talking through me. Either way, it was the truth.

“Then we have to destroy them before they destroy us,” Dray said firmly.

“It could be a ruse. Draw us all together and take us all out at once while the rest of the planet is vulnerable,” Atsila said.

“I don’t think so.” I was so sure. I had to be right. “It’s strange though, isn’t it? Even if they had a spy, how would they know that Blood Falls is important enough to hurt us?”

Dray shook his head. “I’m starting to think there are things we’ll never understand.”

“And yet more things make sense now than they did before.” The stories were lost but the traditions remained, and the traditions were saving our asses.

“Talking isn’t helping.” Atsila cut in. “The Heads of House are asking if they should converge on Blood Falls or not. I say yes.”

Dray worked his jaw for a few seconds as he thought, then nodded. “Agreed.”

“It’s unanimous. We’re going home.” Home turf had its advantages.

“Home sweet home,” Dray murmured. “Home sweet home.”

Blood Falls no longer looked red. If anything, it had a purple tint under the dark blue sky. That felt important for some reason. It wasn’t our Blood Falls. We weren’t fighting over the same land where Dray and all his siblings grew up, where Bethany and Sun had been married. Instead we were fighting someplace else. Somewhere the memories wouldn’t haunt us.

We were scattered over the mountains and down the river in mixed groups. Hidden. Waiting. Ready to fight for our lives against an enemy that was bold enough to bring the war to our doorstep.

Gigi and the Doctor had cataloged thirteen unknown beings. Most had enough similarities to creatures from mythology that we called them by those names even though they most likely referred to themselves by a completely different name. Griffins, minotaurs, centaurs, demons, angels, dragons, ghosts, phoenixes, jackals, giant serpents, sphinxes, and mermaids all made the list so far.

Another strange thing that had happened was that the noises they made had started to make sense. The same way time had mostly synced up, the language differences were melting away. Not that being called a fire witch while a giant beast swung an ax at me was any better than when it was snarls I couldn’t understand, but the change was still interesting.

The banshees and my mother flew by like the wind, running reconnaissance. I placed myself in the hidden room behind the falls along with Rain. They wanted us safe until they called for us. “I hate this.” I wanted to be out there with Dray. Any time he left without me it felt like half of me was gone. I felt helpless. When we were together we were invincible. The things we could see and do together were beyond anything I imagined.

But since this battle was the most important yet, I had been relegated to waiting in a secret room like a delicate piece of dishware no one wanted to ruin.

Rain put an arm around me. “I don’t mind being here. Don’t worry, when the time is right we’ll do our part.”

Dreadnought was cold in my hands. I never let it go. Not even when there was no battle nearby. “What do you think will happen if we win?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Without the tethers, the worlds will separate once again.”

“Will the Plane leave us too?”

She froze. “No, I don’t think so.”

“But it could.” If we lost the Plane in the process, everything about being samhain would be lost.

“I suppose it is possible.”

“Let’s say we go back to the way things were. What does that even look like?” Would some of these beasts be trapped here with us? Would we have to learn to live with minotaurs and sphinxes?

“On this, your human upbringing is showing. Our world will look exactly like we want it to. The samhain work together and succeed. We don’t fight each other or let others tell us what to do.”

Something niggled. “We don’t fight each other or let others tell us what to do.” Why did that feel so familiar? We don’t fight each other.

“Yeah, that’s what I just said. Are you okay, Rhysa?”

“Never better.” I shot to my feet. Outside I could hear the roar of dragons and the screech of demons. The cave even shook a little. But none of it mattered if my memory was correct. “Blood Falls exists because the Wrens moved here.”

Rain frowned. “Yes…”

“And they moved here because there was a huge rift in the House. Power was seized and to avoid—or stop—the fight, part of the family packed up and left. They refused to be controlled.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Everything. The story of the Wrens coming to Blood Falls fascinated me, but it never sat quite right. In general, all the samhain I’d met were reasonable, intelligent, collaborative people. Some were grumpier than others, or a little more ambitious, but the only ones that had actively sought more power were the ones who’d been turned by the evil that had been here working against us for decades.

But a few hundred years earlier the House of Wren fractured. They didn’t just open a satellite house. The Wrens that came to Blood Falls came with the House of Wrens’ books, their history and armor. The old house didn’t care about them anymore and they wanted to take the House in a whole new direction.

“It’s them,” I said simply. “The other Wrens. They’re the ones who picked this spot for the battle. They’re the ones helping the other reality.”

Rain blinked and shook her head. “No…”

No other House had discarded their history and swords like the old Wrens had. Even the Heida kept their library safe in the caves and they never thought the old stories would matter to anyone.

But the Wrens had. Because they didn’t need them anymore. “They were turned long before any of this started.”

The Plane rushed at me. Through me. Yes! Yes! She sees! She understands! The evil was there and the demons went right to it. They are one. They are one.

And the Black Forest Wrens were standing shoulder to shoulder with us waiting for their chance to turn on us. “It’s an ambush.” If we didn’t get to Dray now it would be too late.

Rain’s eyes widened. “Kill our own kind?”

“If I’m right it’s them or us.” I had been scared a lot these last few weeks, but nothing compared to what I felt now. I was downright terrified. I pictured Dray being run through by a cousin he thought was an ally, lying dead on the ground before I could warn him. “I’m going to Dray.”

“I’ll meet up with Kris.”

We left the sanctuary of the cavern together. Was it possible I was wrong? The Plane certainly didn’t think so. In my bones I knew we’d been betrayed by our own people, I just never wanted to believe it could be someone who called themself Wren.

I found Dray at the top of the falls with a mix of the houses. He jerked with surprise when he saw me and pulled me to the side. “Why are you here?”

I quickly explained my theory. I expected him to balk or protest, but instead he nodded slowly. “I have often wondered what could have made my family leave our House. And I was definitely not welcomed warmly at the Black Forest.”

“You told them everything.”

“I trusted them. I should not have been so blind.” He whirled in a blur, grabbing Dreadnought and pushing me out of the way as a sword came down on us. The clang of the metal rang out, drawing the attention of everyone on the mountain. Dray’s muscles bulged as he fought back the large male. Then he kicked him, sending the male flying onto his back. “Traitor!”

Hands everywhere went to the hilts of their swords.

“You have no idea what you’re fighting,” the male barked. He was one of the Black Forest Wrens. “Can’t you see the future? A world ruled by our kind. Humans finally out of the way.”

Dray pressed Dreadnought to the male’s throat. “And these demons just smile and agree to live in harmony, Patryck?”

He snarled. “We kill the demons and take all the realms for ourselves.”

“Now why would I want that?”

An excellent question. What was the benefit of killing off humans and demons alike? What was so special about the three realms that it would be worth it? So far as I could tell the third realm was a miserable hellscape with few resources and no joy. What could it add to our realm and the Plane?

“The opportunity only comes once every few millennia, you myopic backwoods moron. Humans are inconsequential, but eliminating the threat of demons? Priceless.”

Was Patryck’s belief altruistic? I doubted it. I saw ambition in his eyes. The Head of the Black Forest House of Wrens wanted to rule them all. Ultimate power. He might allow his fellow samhain to live, but under his rule.

Rever appeared out of nowhere, a dagger flashing in his hands. He plunged it into the heart of the traitor, twisted it until a sickening gurgle pierced the air, and stepped back. “It was all lies. Every word out of his pathetic mouth is lies.” Then he spat on the ground.

“How do you know?” I dusted myself off and moved close enough to see that the male was truly dead. His eyes no longer held unchecked ambition. Now they were blank and lifeless, staring up at the strange sky.

Rever wiped his brow. He appeared to be in a great deal of pain. His face was contorted into a grimace, and he hunched forward. “Because I saw him in the rift. I saw him and his friends in the rift.”

“You’re sure?” Dray handed Dreadnought back to me before steadying Rever.

“I’ll never forget a single second I spent there.” He pointed at the dead male. “He came to the rift often. They knew him and his people.” Rever swayed and his grimace deepened.

Maybe the memories of the rift were too much for him. “So he was working with the demons against us?”

Dray shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. He helped the demons. That’s all we need to know.”

Patryck probably hoped the demons would take enough of us out that we couldn’t mount a fight against him later. Meanwhile we killed enough demons to make them just as weak. Most humans wouldn’t survive a prolonged convergence. That left Patryck with all the power to seize full control of all the realms and everyone who lived there.

Rever turned pale just as I felt a tickle of the Plane across my skin. I tried to brush it away, but the electric spikes only got worse. “What’s that?”

Rever bared his teeth. “There are more of him. I can feel them all. Every single traitor. Their minds are so easy to read.”

Which meant we were still in a great deal of danger. “Who?” Dreadnought hummed in my hands. The stinging electricity sparked the air and what looked like tentacles of light flowed between and around us all. The energy was so intense it took my breath away. “Rever? Are you doing this?”

He pressed his hands to the sides of his face and screamed, a psychic wave exploding out of him and traveling down the streams. It wooshed past me, pushing me away and then sucking me after it. Bright explosions erupted at the end of each stream.

Rever collapsed to the ground shaking and groaning, every muscle straining, each vein bulging, until he went limp, and his eyes rolled back in his head.