Page 14 of Fallen

“Talon,” he moaned.

One minute they were vertical, and then they were horizontal. There was a soft surface under Alex, but he didn’t see any distinguishing features about their surroundings. All he knew was Talon. Their bare skin slid together, damp with sweat. Talon’s muscular body blanketed him, enveloping him. Alex spread his legs, and all he knew was pleasure. Surrounded and filled with perfect heat, his body pinned in a way that shook all worry from his mind. He didn’t have to move. He didn’t have to fight. There was no pain here.

Perfectly safe. As promised.

All his thoughts fell away, leaving only Talon and darkness.

Alex woke with sticky boxers.His face flooded with embarrassment even though there was no one there to witness his shame. He discarded the boxers in the bathroom and stepped into the shower, scrubbing until he could finally stop blushing. He couldn’t even remember the last time he’d had a dream like that, and certainly never about someone he actually knew. They were vague shapes and featureless blobs when he was a teen.

Why now, of all times? And whyTalon? Surely his body wasn’t so easily led astray by a few simple touches.

He dressed and made coffee, fetching his phone from the bedroom. Standing in front of the coffeemaker, he stared into the middle distance as the memory of Talon’s sweat-slick body pressed up against his, starbursts of pleasure exploding through him.

He shook himself. No. This wasn’t happening. He wasn’t fantasizing about ademon.

He realized he had a new text message and pulled up the app, his stomach turning as he remembered the conversation he’d fallen asleep to. Under Talon’s name, a new text waited for him.

I hope your dreams were pleasant, little bird.

Heat burned through Alex. There was no way Talon couldknowabout the dream he’d had… could he? He didn’t know exactly what powers the black-eyed halflings had. Was Talon psychic? Could he dreamwalk? What if he’d somehow influenced Alex’s dream—inserted himself somehow?

That… wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, would it? He hadn’t tormented Alex in any way. He’d chased away the nightmares and given Alex pleasure instead. If he’d somehow done that intentionally, it might’ve even been done as a kindness. Alex certainly didn’t mind not waking up screaming from visions of his dead family.

But how did he find out for sure?

After a moment’s thought, he responded.

I’ve had better.

If Talon had truly been there, he might be offended, but if not, he’d just think Alex hadn’t slept well. Alex poured his coffee into a travel mug and snagged his keys off the counter. His phone chimed again as he closed the door behind himself, and he paused in the hallway to check it.

Sorry to hear that.

He narrowed his eyes at the screen. Was he really? Alex couldn’t tell.

He drifted through the morning’s training drills in a daze. Other than a few concerned looks from Nathan, no one bothered him. He worked himself to the bone on the training yard, running drills and sparring until he couldn’t lift his practice sword without trembling. After a long shower in the locker room, he retreated to the armory to oil and sharpen his sword. The room was quiet, everyone focused on their individual tasks. He set his cell phone beside him on the workbench while he worked, checking it obsessively for new notifications. There were none, and despite his better judgment, he found himself wondering what demons did during the day. They didn’t like sunlight, as far as he knew. Was that true for halflings, too? Was Talon holed up somewhere waiting for the sun to go down? Was he sleeping? Where did a demon lay his head?

He didn’t know why he even wondered. He certainly didn’tcare.

After a lunch that he spent more time poking at than eating, he wandered to the library on the ground floor of the admin building to do a little research.

The library was one of the biggest rooms in the building. The floor was made of marble and covered in soft rugs to dampen the sounds, and the domed ceiling was painted with scenes from the bible, reminiscent of the Sistine Chapel. Long tables around the room held desktop computers for guild use. A handful of people were scattered around the room, but beyond the clicking of the keyboard and the whisper of turning pages, it was quiet.

He waved to the student on duty at the library’s desk in the middle of the large space and went to one of the desktop computers. A lot of their old, archived files had been scanned into a computer system. All of their guild-issued laptops—including the one Alex kept at home—had access to the database, which were locally hosted by servers there on the guild’s premises.

There was precious little about halflings of any kind, much less the black-eyed ones. It listed their basic features, such as the red or black eyes, their strength, their faster healing, their immortality. A few of the more currently known hangouts like In Extremis. There was nothing about special powers, dreamwalking or otherwise.

That didn’t mean they couldn’t. It just meant there was no record of it. There could be a lot they didn’t know about halflings. Alex had been attracted to people before without having dreams about them. He couldn’t believe the first sex dream he’d had about a real person was about ademon. That couldn’t have come from his own mind… could it?

Chapter 6

Alex

“Is this real?”

He was back in the club, in the VIP room with its disconcerting red light and mirrored walls. Talon was in front of him, pressed exceptionally close. He had a bottle in his hand this time, and the other arm was braced beside Alex’s head.

“Just because it’s happening in your head doesn’t mean it isn’t real, little bird.” His dark eyes danced with mirth.

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