Page 24 of Sweet Dreams

“What is it?” I suddenly found myself on my knees in front of him, reaching for his hands. “Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out.”

“I need your help.”

“Oh okay,” I rolled back on my haunches, smiling again, “What can I do?”

“I need you to find out everything you can on ETA. Everything and everybody involved with it.”

***

Zaldi

I went to bed on Traum’s couch in Salus Glen and woke up with my grandmother’s pale red face looking down at me. I jerked up, gasping, “Grandmother!”

“You sleep like the dead, Zaldi. I was worried the living world might have taken you for good,” she leaned in, pressing a soft pat on my cheek. I moved automatically cupping her hand against my face and feeling the press of her claws against my skin.

In a rush, I remembered Lulu and Traum, Bailey and the taste of coffee. Guilt nearly overcame me as fear and sadness threatened to swamp me. I was back in the Underworld and I had no idea why, or for how long. The fact that I couldn’t walk down main street and see Lulu at the newspaper slammed into me with the force of a rogue reaper.

I tried to school my features, to close my eyes against my grandmother’s knowing gaze, but I was not fast enough. Her grip on my face tightened, her hand curling, “Oh, sweet Z. It’ll be alright, it will.”

I took a deep breath, trying to brace myself for the day ahead of me. For a day without the life I’d suddenly become so attached to. A place I’d fit in. A place I’d felt important, even if it had been for such a short time.

“I know, Grandmother.”

“Stay strong, Zaldi, your path still waits for you,” Grandmother said, stepping back and releasing me. “And first, you must survive your sister. She was quite disappointed you left her here with just me and Albtraum for company.”

Grandmother cackled to herself at the mention of my eldest brother and the heir apparent to our tribe here in the Underworld. Albtraum was the opposite of his twin, Traum in every way. And while I knew our sister loved us all equally, Antheia could not resist riling up my rule-following eldest brother at every turn. She had no doubt, run his limited patience thin over the past few weeks.

“I’m impressed that they are both still standing. to be honest.”

“Albtraum called a truce after the second day,” a smooth voice spoke from the door, “The second day? Can you imagine? I cannot believe we share parents.” I sat up completely as Grandmother tutted and moved across my small room to the doorway. Antheia leaned there, elegant and tall, her legs crossed at the ankle as she tapped one of her horns against the door jam.

“What did you do on the second day?” I asked, swinging my legs over. I was almost surprised at the sight of my incubus form. I had been spending so much time around the humans of Salus Glen that I’d almost gotten used to my human glamor. And, while I wished that Lulu would remember me and she would be able to see my true form, there was an anonymity that I enjoyed quite a lot being just another human man in town.

Antheia didn’t speak, so I looked back up at her, she was biting her lip. “Oh, it must’ve been mad,” I remarked casually, standing and moving to the wardrobe. Incubus were not shy about our forms and I tossed off my shirt before looking through it for a new one.

“It might have been a little over-the-top.”

“How over-the-top?” I tied the shirt laces and glanced back at my sister.

“I spelled wind chimes to call his name. Every time Lucifer’s wind came through, he went running. It got so bad that he went to the healer, convinced he was hearing voices.”

I snorted, “Honestly, it’s not that bad.”

Antheia slapped her thighs, “That’s what I said? He’s so touchy during council sessions.”

I passed by her, freezing just inside the living space. “You did it during council sessions?” This was the first season my brother was expected to orchestrate the small council session with both the tribe and with Arafel, the demon king of our realm.

Antheia grimaced, “Maybe? I honestly forgot he was prepping for the visits until he came home from the healers.”

“You are so bad.”

Her head hung low, fanged teeth biting into her teeth again. “I know. I really am sorry. But, you have to understand, I’m bored out of my mind. I haven’t been able to dreamwalk for ages.”

I picked up a stack of letters out on the counter, checking none were left for me. “Why not?”

“Not for lack of trying, but it’s just not working. I’m not sure. Grandmother thinks it’s because the power has been so stable since the move into Salus Glen. Traum and Bailey feed it constantly and now, it just doesn’t seem to call as many of them into dreams.”

“What does that mean?”