Page 31 of Shifter's Dream

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Grey Deatherage scrambled to his feet in the total darkness of his tiny circular cell in the Pravus. The ground was shaking again. He knew from listening to Rex and Soren as they prowled about and spoke among themselves like thieves and brothers, that the quakes were not limited to the Pravus, they only started there.

Grey pressed toward what felt like the northernmost edge of his cell, laying his cheek against the cool metal. A sound came, like a great, groaning weight being ground across rock, telling Grey that Khain was consuming the angel again.

The angel. Azerbaizan. Grey called him Azer.

Grey wanted to call out to Khain, to scream at him to lay off the angel, but Khain would never trust him if he did. Grey had been in the inescapable cell for what seemed like years, but was probably around four months. He’d been trying to keep a calendar in his mind, but that was the thing about shit in your mind, you never knew if it was right or not.

The groaning sound came louder, the ground shook like they had been upended, and then the echo rolled through his prison. Grey had once overheard Rex tell Soren the echo meant the earthquake had reached the Ula, also known as the real fucking world. Grey was currently in thePravus, which was Khain’s home, and no one knew if it really existed or not. Grey hated thePravuslike fire. It belched smoke and sulfur constantly and there was no water anywhere, ever and it made him feel pressed flat.

He missed the moon so badly.

Pop! Khain was gone. The air in the Pravus sucked into a vortex, then fell flat. The earthquake intensified for a few long moments, then stopped, only the echo sounding, until it too, died.

Grey slumped onto the floor, feeling his friend’s diminishment. He didn’t bother trying to call out to him. Azer had only spoken to him in his dreams since that first time when Khain had stuffed him into this hellhole.

Azer spoke. The words shone in Grey’s mind like a light.“Whew, that was a bad one.”

Grey whispered into the very air of the enclosure, knowing Azer would be able to hear him. “How much longer can you hold out?”

“That was it. The last time. The next time will break me, but it doesn’t matter, because they are coming to kill me tonight. Khain will try first, if he can’t hold the pendant, Rex will try.”

“Right,” Grey said, thinking furiously, trying to decide how he felt about all of this. Being in a dark hole for months wasn’t good for the thought processes.

“So you have to kill me now. I’ll get the demon to believe it. All you have to do is play your part. If you don’t, he’ll getallmy powers, not just the one he thinks he wants.”

Shit, Azer was still on that? “And then what?” he said, unable to keep the animosity out of his voice. “You head over to Rhen’s meadow, take a breather?”

Lights flashed inside Grey’s cell, blinding him. He was a mole, now.

“About that,” Azer said, his voice terrible. “I think it’s time we have this conversation, because yeah, once you kill me, I’m dead for real.”

Grey didn’t speak. Loss filled him, and Azer wasn’t even gone yet, but then Azer launched into one of his patented angel-lectures and Grey didn’t miss him so much anymore. Rhen would be devastated when Azer died, and knowing that made Grey crazier.

“Didn't you think it was a bad idea to mess around with Rhen?” Azer said. “I mean look at you, stealing pendants, killing your own kind, binding young wolfen who have prophecy and influencing them to end their lives. Grey, what is wrong with you? No don't answer that. I know what's wrong with you, you are a simple wolf, acitlali, sure, a powerful one, sure, but still nothing but a wolf, and you're trying to have a relationship with adeae? She scrambled your brain cells. You're over there trying to make plans with a ball of string and two blind kittens rattling around in your head.”

“I love her,” Grey whispered. It was all he could say.

“Yeah, I get that,” Azer said, his voice making Grey weep. “Me too. I’m talking about way back when, before you loved her, back when you still had all your wolfy marbles, back before you crossed that line, back when you were still redeemable, pick your cliché- way back then, didn't some small, tiny, infinitesimal part of you think, ‘This could end poorly, maybe I should start a new a hobby instead’? She didn't force you.”

Grey shook his head, even though no one could see him. “You don't understand. In the beginning, I... I thought I was dreaming, and my dream-self always thought Rhen was sexy as hell, so, who says no to a goddess in a dream? Why would any singlewolfensay no to a sexy, powerful female in a dream, goddess or not?” He stopped talking and took a deep breath, gathering the strength to tell the truth. “By the time I knew I wasn't dreaming, I was already in love. My marbles were gone and I hadn't found my blind kittens yet.”

Azer was silent for a long time. Grey thought he'd worn himself out. But then he asked one more question. “Is that what sitting in repose is like? Dreaming?”

Grey considered, but asked his own question “You know what dreaming is like?”

“Of course. All beings dream.”

“Even The Light?”

“Especially the Light.”

Grey could not comprehend that one. “Tell me what dreaming is like for you,” he whispered to his friend. Instead of telling, Azer showed him, but only for a mini-nano-second. A beam like light, but solid, blasted into Grey's being. Grey collapsed on the floor, knowing his brains were leaking out his ears. He floated…

He woke up a few minutes later, knowing everything all at once. Just before he imploded, Azer spoke, and Grey’s reality fell back in on him.

“You know, at the end of this, it's not just the wolves gone, it's Rhen gone, too.”

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