Page 21 of Fallen

Alex was thinking of him. That was good.

Good morning to you too, little bird.

There was a pause. Three little dots appeared on the screen, then disappeared, then reappeared. Talon barely blinked, waiting with bated breath.

What do you do all day? Do you sleep?

Curious.

I sleep, yes. Demons are nocturnal, generally speaking.

Do you dream?

An inexplicable shiver went down Talon’s spine.

If we’re lucky.

What do demons dream about?

Talon considered his answer.

Come to In Extremis tonight and I’ll tell you.

It’s against the rules to go there without backup.

Since when has that stopped you? Come. I have an acquaintance to question about your demon. You can join me. Maybe he’ll know something.

There was another long pause, and then…

Fine. I’ll be there. But it’ll be late. I have patrol.

Anticipation burned through him.

I’ll be waiting, little bird.

Chapter 8

Alex

Gettingthrough the day wasagony.Alex wanted nothing more than to rush to In Extremis as soon as the sun fell. He could barely sleep. He was too jittery to properly eat. He told himself the only reason he wanted to go back to the demon club was to follow up on the lead Talon mentioned, but last night’s dream had feltdifferent. Talon’s presence in that dream had unlocked something inside him he hadn’t known was there.

For so long, he’d been focused on his training and the burning need to find the demon that killed his family. He’d pushed everything else down. His grief and his loneliness didn’t help him hunt demons, so he ignored them. But Talon’s presence in his dreams, the sensation of his warm arms around Alex’s body, had awoken his appetite for companionship. He was downright starved for it.

After he’d woken, he’d cursed himself for waking so much earlier than his alarm. It wasn’t uncommon, but he’d never been so desperate to stay asleep. The way Talon had held him, the promises he’d made… No one had ever treated Alex likehewas precious before. Something to be protected.

‘Come back to In Extremis,’he’d said.‘Come and see the real me.’

And then when he’d dared to reach out for the first time in days, what did Talon say?

‘Come to In Extremis tonight.’

Alex couldn’t resist. Maybe it was stupid, but he needed to know if the real Talon was anything like the one from his dreams. There had to be a reason why he kept seeing him, why he was so drawn to him. He knew there was nothing in the library about halflings being able to dreamwalk, but these dreams certainly didn’t feel normal.

The unusual urge to blow off the night’s patrol was almost overwhelming. He’dneverwanted to skip a patrol before. It was also tempting to grill Talon for more information about this potential lead, but Talon had made it clear Alex would have to come to the bar in order to learn whatever it was. He had a feeling the demon wouldn’t be swayed.

He drove to HQ that evening to begrudgingly report for duty in a daze, signed in and met the rest of his squad in front of the admin building.

“All right, folks,” Nathan said when the last one arrived. “Our orders are the thirteenth sector. Let’s head out.”

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