Page 57 of Demon of Dreams

“Don’t pretend you don’t have a fallback option. You wouldn’t have brought him here if you didn’t have a Plan B.”

Isaac sighed again, but I just looked at him, making my mouth a firm line. Finally, he waved a hand.

“Sebastian, perhaps.” He didn’t sound like he was admitting defeat, but this was as close to a win as I was ever going to get from him.

“Seb’s a good choice,” I said.

Isaactsked. “Not my first.”

“He’ll throw himself into it.”

“And if it’s not enough?”

“Then you’ll move on to Plan C.” I made my voice callous. “It’s not my problem.”

“Cory is everyone’s problem, Noah. Everyone’s. But we’ll speak no more of that for now. I have another question.” That pleasant smile was back. “How are you feeling?”

God, I hated this question. Because it wasn’t,How are you feeling? Not really. It was,How weak are you right now?How much longer can you go before admitting you need me?How long until you have to face everything you’ve lost all over again?

Iwasweak, and I did need him, and I hated it.

“I’m fine.”

I wasn’t. I had a day left, tops, before I needed Isaac’s help. I could feel it already. The hunger. Theneed. It had sucked the marrow from my bones and was snarling for more. But I was in no state of mind to say that right now.

“You don’t look it.”

“Fuck you.”

“Would you like that?” Now Isaac looked amused, which only pissed me off more. “It can certainly be arranged.”

To tell the truth, I wasn’t entirely sure I hadn’t fucked him already. Not physically, of course, but the fact that I relied on Isaac to put me into a trance akin to the incubus’s dreamworld—the dreamworld I couldn’t reach on my own anymore—meant that on some level, we’d been fucking every week for the past seven years now.

I didn’t like to dwell on that fact too much. Isaac was a friend, perhaps, but he never let a person forget the power he held over them.

He had, in some senses, saved my life.

I just wasn’t always sure it was a life worth saving.

“I’mfine,” I repeated.

“And I don’t believe you. Now, I can call Cinda in here and have her check your vitality levels, which would be embarrassing for you and a waste of time for me, or you could admit that you’re on your last legs and ask me for help.”

“I’m teaching a Fifth Hour class,” I said, knowing I sounded petulant and unable to help it.

“Then we’ll just have to be quick. I’m sure that won’t be a problem for you.” He pointed to one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Why don’t you make yourself comfortable?”

I could never get comfortable in those chairs, but I sat anyway. Seven years, and I still had trouble relaxing enough to enter the trance Isaac offered. Seven years, and we still hadn’t found a better workaround.

He ran through the same old litany anyway.Close your eyes. Take deep breaths. Imagine yourself floating somewhere calm, somewhere peaceful. Feel warmth radiating down on you, up from below you, emanating from within you. Feel your entire body suffused with warmth and peace and the knowledge that you’re just where you’re meant to be.

I’d seen it work on other people, his voice turning into a hypnotic drone as they gently slipped under his spell. I could never manage it, though.

I opened my eyes after about thirty seconds. “Seriously, Isaac?”

He shrugged. “It never hurts to try. And I’m sure it would be more pleasant than—”

“Come on.” I thrust my hand out, palm up. “Just do it.”

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