Page 26 of Loving Nightmares
“Let’s slow down,” I interrupted, motioning for them to sit. I took my own seat, pulling a knee up as I tried to figure out how to go about this.
“Let’s start with what you last remember,” I suggested.
“Yesterday, I believe,” Officer Luis started, “we were at a meeting and were introduced to a visiting Commander—Gunnar. There was a big explosion, and that was the last thing I remember.”
“Same,” Strike agreed.
I froze as something occurred to me. “What month is it?”
“February.”
Holy shit. Was it possible… I heard Blackwell ask them what year it was, and my eyebrows shot up at their answer.
Two years ago. Two years and several months of lost time.
Now Strike was beginning to panic. “Why do you ask?”
“Because more time than you think has passed,” I murmured. Which meant that the humans under War’s control were truly not in the right state of mind. I mean, we already knew that, but this was worse than any of us had imagined. How much of MAM had been because of War? How long had he been influencing them?
I knew they wouldn’t know, and right now it didn’t matter—we could deal with those questions later. Right now I needed to know about the immediate threat.
“Like how much?” Luis asked, his voice faltering.
“We can pin that down after we talk about a few more things,” I said, hoping to keep their focus here with me for justa few minutes more. “I just want to make sure we all stay safe,” I added as they shared an uncertain look. Both hesitated but ultimately agreed.
“You were part of MAM before this, then?” I asked.
“MAM?” Strike asked, and I could tell both he and Luis were genuinely confused by the question. “We were part of the US army. MAM is the militant anti-nightmare group, right? We keep tabs on them, but they are fairly small.”
Oh, this was bad. Now the rapid advancement of such a small hate group made more sense.
I turned to my mates. “Let’s have my dad arrange for Irina to explain what’s been going on, or at least be present.”
“What’s going on?” Luis repeated, his voice turning more demanding.
“You were part of an attack, but not as part of the military,” I explained gently. “Somehow you ended up as a member of MAM.”
Strike offered me an incredulous look. “Why would I do that? My daughter-in-law is a nightmare; she and my son got married a few years back.”
“There’s a lot we need to sort out,” I agreed, looking down at the table as I thought through what else I could ask them.
I didn’t think they’d know anything truly useful, at least not regarding War’s future plans, but it was obvious that the humans were in as much danger from War as nightmares. Which meant there were now two groups of people he was after. He truly wanted a massive world war. His hold was huge, and with what I now knew about the other nightmare communities being surrounded, we needed to act, and soon.
“Thank you for talking to me,” I said finally, meeting their confused gazes with a small smile. “We’ll have someone come brief all of you soon and clear up the confusion.”
They both nodded, Strike looking like he wanted to argue, but at that moment security opened the door to lead them out. I waited patiently as they left, and as the door closed, I let out a groan and put my head down.
“Well, this is a shit show,” Saint said.
“I had no idea how deep his reach was,” Ashur added solemnly. “My understanding is that he gained access, resources, and people from the human military to supply the anti-nightmare group?”
“That’s what I got from it,” Zain muttered.
Razar exhaled sharply, running his hand along my back as Cy squeezed my thigh in a comforting move. I could hear Amun pacing behind me, and Blackwell and Damian were silent as they thought through the implications of this entire shit show like me.
After a long moment, I lifted my head and exhaled. “Alright, we’ll get them briefed, but let’s handle the current issue—War is a threat to humans and nightmares alike. We need to break his hold on everyone and then go from there.”
“Kill him,” Saint said matter-of-factly. “I’m killing him.”
