Page 4 of Loving Nightmares
Morbid, but sweet.
If there was anyone who knew about death, it was my god terror mate. Humans fell around him, dead—he wasn’t holding back like the others— and I had to wonder just how many humans were under War’s thrall. It felt like an endless stream from where I stood.
“What garden?” Amun asked, his booming voice loud enough to be heard over the melee. He appeared right next to Saint, plucking a normal bullet from mid-air before it could pierce Death. While not needed, it was a nice move, and I could sense that despite not shifting, the mummy’s magic was fully out to play, his entire body pulsating with a green aura that matched his fluorescent-green eyes. It was addicting to watch.
“That doesn’t make me like you,” Saint grumbled while slamming his hand into one of the soldiers, their chest cavity exploding, literally.
Okay, maybe he needed to sit this one out…if we were trying to save lives, that is.
Answering Amun’s question, he growled, “The garden I wanted to bury you in. You can thank flower for your current existence.”
Amun barked out a genuine laugh before tossing me a smile and continuing to fight side by side with Saint. While the two of them seemed night and day in so many ways, they worked together flawlessly. Amun’s death magic saturated the area as the ground absorbed each of Saint’s kills in a beautiful, twisted way.
Amun’s wrappings kept other humans tied to the ground, his magic running over them until they were unconscious, then quickly releasing. His dark hair shifted around his rough, handsome face as he focused on those around him and calculated his next move, the intensity and lethality making me feel exhilarated.
I totally wasn’t thinking about those bindings tying me up in bed… Nope, not at all.
“Saint! Don’t kill Amun,” I called out as my attention was pulled to Cy, his basilisk form drawing a ton of attention as men around him scrambled to get out of the way. That was before his magic infected them, causing them to scream as they grabbed their eyes and whimpered, blood leaking down their faces. His magic slammed into the bubble, and Mykia growled but stayed strong. Cy’s scales glittered under the moonlight, giving me an excellent view of the true darkness he was capable of.
The quiet, intense man was normally controlled, at least until it came to me, but right now he was anything but. Gone were the silver eyes streaked with a hypnotic mint green, gone werethe silver piercings and white hair with dark green ends. Instead the beast that lived within him had burst out of his skin and was roaming the battlefield in defense of our home. While this form wasn’t nearly as easy for us to interact in, I absolutely loved seeing it. He was amazing in both human and nightmare form—something I would continue to tell him.
“Can’t promise anything!” Saint shouted as something flew by in my peripheral. Only Blackwell’s curse and sudden appearance made me realize it was my father’s unconscious form.Fuck. Blackwell caught him easily as Mykia barked, causing the legend terror to turn and offer her a speculative look.
Before I could ask what she was trying to communicate, a sonic blast of power soared into us and Mykia sent out up ten times the power she had before, turning the bubble into a golden shell, blocking out everything around us. A fine mist filled the air and I had to close my eyes. As I blinked, trying to open them again, I saw flashes of a small form here with us…a small human form. Maybe it was Mykia?Had she shifted?
“Arabella.” Blackwell’s voice was filled with a level of panic I hadn’t heard before. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
“Yes!” I called out as the mist disappeared along with the golden shell, the bubble’s equilibrium returning. “I don’t really understand what’s going on—”
Blackwell suddenly appeared inside, Mykia letting out a disapproving sound but allowing it. The chaos had grown around us, but that didn’t stop the son of Hades from sweeping me into his arms and kissing me hard, having placed my father safely on the ground in the bubble. When he pulled back, I let out a sigh and examined his black eyes that were flashing with a raging gold storm. His hair was out of place, and the normally broody man was filled with a vicious energy that I had felt when he was buried inside of me—
Blackwell slammed his lips against mine once more. “You’re going to get yourself in trouble. Stop it.”
I liked the trouble he was talking about, especially since people kept locking me up in fucking bubbles. The least they could do was make it interesting.
I also knew that, like all my nightmares, Blackwell felt the intense need to keep me safe. It was one I couldn’t blame him for, and I loved him all the more for it. I knew how much he loved me, and if I hadn’t…well, he literally wanted to impregnate me, so if that didn’t say serious, I’m not positive what would.
Another blast slammed into the bubble.
“It’s bad out there,” I said, Blackwell offering a grunt of agreement.
“And it’s about to get worse.” Zain appeared out of nowhere, slipping into the bubble. He landed agilely on the ground, transforming mid-air from apocalyptic form, red lighting up his scars, to his more human form. He looked more than a bit out of sorts, his shirt ripped and his breathing uneven. The fear I saw in his neon blue eyes rocked me to my core, and I knew at that moment we had to get out of here. His words also had Blackwell hoisting my father up and over his shoulder, Irina’s voice distantly calling for him. The sounds of battle and the chaos made me wonder what news Zain could possibly have that would make this situation worse.
“Aerial forces, minute away at most,” he said, his eyes sparking with a primal darkness that had me swearing. Looking around, I could see that more people were joining the fight, and nightmares were being shot at…hopefully those weren’t the new bullets. And now that he’d mentioned it, I could hear the hum of plane engines in the distance, growing closer by the second.
We had to get the fuck away. We weren’t ready for this.
“We need a better plan and defense; we need to retreat,” I said. “Tell all of them.”
“Retreat?” Saint joined the bubble, looking confused.
“Yes. Retreat, now.” I could explain later. Hell, we’d hopefully have better technology later. We couldn’t afford—
The first bomb dropped at that exact moment.
The air itself seemed to burst into flames, everyone caught off guard. My body was thrown back, but I was cradled by someone, the familiar pine and night air scent telling me it was Ashur. Flames licked my skin, and I heard my men shouting as more bombs fell. I whimpered as my vision began to fade to black, Ashur’s lips against my ear whispering ‘my moon’ the last thing I heard from the creationist terror.
Then my brain dragged me into a much happier memory, one where everyone I loved was safe and the biggest concern I had was whether or not my nightmares would find out about my feelings for them.
