Page 64 of Wicked Thirst
Morpheus turned toward me and smiled. “Are you ready to find your little friend, vampire?”
“Absolutely.” I didn’t trust this guy as far as I could throw him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
PIPER
Morpheus hovered over me. “Lie still, vampire.”
I was in a twin-sized bed with a thin sheet pulled up to my hips and a single pillow behind my head. The sheets were crisp and clean compared to how dirty I felt after the events of the day. I tried to make my body as still as I could, but I was nervous. It was one thing to swing a sword at some demons, it was entirely another to jump into someone’s head and not know how it was going to go. I didn’t want to hurt him any further, but if this was how I was going to help him, then so be it.
“You know I have a name. It’s Piper. My name is Piper. You don’t see me calling you by your description. Like, take me into Grayson’s mind, powerful dream person.”
Morpheus chuckled as he hopped into the bed right across from mine. He had it lined up so our heads were almost touching. He gave a heavy sigh, and I could hear the springs creaking as he got himself settled in. “This is going to be jarring. But then it’ll be fine, and I’ll get you where you need to be.”
“Great.” I nodded and glanced at the others standing on the other side of the glass wall. I forced a reassuring smile, but it felt shaky like my insides. Walking into the unknown wasn’t something I liked doing. I loved knowing where I was and what I was doing. I loved having a perfect plan. But this was not perfect. This was exploratory surgery to find a problem no one knew the cause of. I gave them a small wave, then closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath.
Morpheus tilted his head back, looking at me upside down. “Oh yeah, one more thing I forgot to mention. If you die in his dreams, you’ll die in real life.”
“Wa—” One minute I was in that room, and the next I was free falling. I felt my muscles twitch and bounce as my stomach flew up into my throat. I was in a swan dive off a cliff with clouds soaring by me.
A scream ripped up my throat, and suddenly Morpheus was next to me, gliding around me in slow circles. He held his arms out and smirked at his wings. “When I have my wing feather sweaters on, don’t I look like a member of The Fallen? I’m going to apply to join them. I think my skills are valuable.”
My arms pinwheeled and I thought I might throw up. The ground was speeding toward me, and I didn’t know how to stop from smacking right into it. “Morpheus!”
“What? You don’t think I would fit in?” He twirled around me with his giant bat wings spinning like a ballerina. “I think they’re pretty great. I mean, the feathers could stick better.”
I was only feet away from hitting the ground and dying in Grayson’s dream. “Morpheus!”
“Ugh. Fineeeee.” He rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers. A glowing tube rose up from below me and opened. It was bright like neon lights or fiber optics. I dropped into the tube, and it caught me in a curve. I slid through it, riding my momentum like a waterslide without the water to ride on. My stomach twisted and turned with each curve. The lights flashed as I passed, and they made me even dizzier. I pressed my hand over my mouth as I slid in the tube, trying not to vomit. It curved upward and I shot out of the end like a cannon.
I thought I was going to soar through the air like a bullet, but instead I came to halt. I was floating but had no control over what direction I moved in or how. My legs slowly went over my head and my hair flopped over my face. Morpheus put his hands behind his head like he was floating in a pool. “It’s a great time, right?”
“Can you please?” I tried to right myself but only ended up spinning farther away from him. “Just get me there.”
“See why I don’t like vampires? So boring. I’ll come back for you when I’m done.”
“Wait what?” He snapped his fingers, and I landed in a dark tunnel with a light at the end of it. It was smooth and looked to get smaller at the end. I spun in a circle.“Morpheus! Where am I?”
No answer.
“No, I won’t be doing that.” The voice was a whispered echo down the hall, and it was so familiar that I ran headlong toward it.
“Gray, I’m here!” There was no answer, only my own words echoing back at me.
There was another murmuring voice, but I couldn’t make out the words. I ran faster and came out at the end of the tunnel into a wide-open space shrouded in fog. Grayson stood with his back to me, and I sucked in a sharp breath. This wasn’t the crazed vampire I’d seen earlier. No, this was the Grayson I knew and loved. He wore a simple white T-shirt and dark pants. Yet he didn’t turn to me. He didn’t seem to even hear me.
I stood still, not knowing what I would find. “Gray?”
He turned to face me, but he looked right through me. “Piper?”
“I’m here.” I was so close I could reach out and touch him, but he couldn’t see me. When I tried to touch him, my hand came up against a barrier surrounding him. It was cold and jelly-like. I tried to call on my blood magic to see if I could break through, but this was his dream and I had no power here.
The voice murmured again, and Grayson shook his head. “I bloody well will not.”
I closed my eyes, trying to hear what he heard or see who he was talking to. Slowly it came into tune like trying to find the right station on the radio. There it was, this voice that did not match Grayson’s at all. This voice was deeper and even smoother than Grayson’s. It was so enticing, like a whispered suggestion I couldn’t say no to. I found my entire body relaxing as I listened. I imagined this would be like the moment before being hypnotized, like walking into a haze but wanting to be there.
“Do this one little thing for me.” The words were so smooth I felt my limbs go heavy as they relaxed.
