A/N: As you might have noticed, this fic is going up fast. That's because it's already completed and I'm just chopping it into chapters and posting it whenever the mood strikes me. The mood will strike faster with reviews. Just sayin's all. ;)
Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.
Maya woke in the middle of the night, a scream straining to escape through clenched teeth, her battered body drenched in sweat and aching with tension.
Then she recognized the room and fell back against the pillows, gasping with the force of her relief. "Damn you, Jay," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself and curling into a ball. "Damn you to hell for this!"
Okay, utter exhaustion was apparently no cure for the nightmares, and they were getting worse. Much worse. Maya couldn't even make herself think about this one, even knowing that it had only been a dream, knowing that she was still in bed, safe in Amanda and Kyrian's home with her brother just down the hall. She shuddered as bits and pieces of the horrific nightmare filtered through her mind despite her best efforts.
She yelped in terror when her door cracked open. "Maya? Are you all right?"
"Amanda!" Maya could have almost sobbed with relief at the welcome sight of the tall, raven-haired woman.
Amanda entered, leaving the door open a crack to allow a sliver of light to brighten the room. "I was up with Marissa a second ago," she said softly. "It sounded like you might be having a bad dream. Are you okay?"
Maya found herself shaking again. She wanted to reassure Amanda, to tell her it was nothing, but she couldn't force the words out. Finally she whispered, "It's so stupid—I know nothing can get to me here—so why are the nightmares getting worse instead of better?"
"Oh, hon," Amanda said sympathetically. "Anyone would have nightmares. It's not stupid—don't ever let me hear you say that again."
"I could have woken the baby—"
"So?" Amanda interrupted. "She'll go back to sleep. For pity's sake, Maya, I saw you when you came in! I'd be worried if you didn't dream about what happened!"
Maya shook her head. Two silver tears slipped down her cheeks. "That's not what the dreams are about," she whispered. "I could handle that—I mean, I know I survived, my baby's okay, I'll be fine in a few days. But this—"
Amanda took her hand when she fell silent. "Can you tell me what they're about?" she asked gently.
Maya struggled visibly. Then she shook her head, completely miserable. "The future," she breathed, as though to give voice to the dreams would bring them to pass. "And—and I don't know if—if I survive again." She tried but couldn't say anything else.
Amanda hugged her and glanced over her shoulder at the open door where she'd left Kyrian. She knew he'd heard every single word. She hadn't told Maya but the poor woman had screamed as if someone was murdering her in her bed. Amazingly Marissa had slept through it, her round tummy full of milk, but she and Kyrian had bolted from their bed certain they'd find an intruder in the house. This was obviously no ordinary nightmare.
But she just happened to possess extraordinary means with which to fight such things. Amanda summoned her own powers to send her into a dreamless oblivion but choked back a gasp as auras suddenly leapt to life all around her. Maya's was strong, determined, shadowed by worry and injuries, but thoroughly human without a trace of blackness to indicate a curse or spell on her.
But the baby!
It blinded her, that aura which should have been so tiny she should have hardly been able to detect it. Liquid light so strong poured from that little life that she had difficulty separating the individual elements for several moments. Golden yellow, like pure sunlight, indicating deep wisdom and goodness. All shades of blue from aqua to cobalt and everything in between, denoting unswerving dedication to truth and righteousness, and a spirit so strong Amanda was tempted to use the word indomitable. But there was still more—purple, a color rarely seen and that only for moments at a time, radiated from the baby with a power and force that left her reeling.
Purple was a mystical color, the color of pure spirituality, of transcending the world and touching the divine. And Maya's baby blended these three powerful aural tones into a pure light Amanda had only seen when reading one other individual.
When he allowed it, which was rare indeed.
As though sensing that she was overwhelmed, the child's aura slowly subsided, in no way losing any of its might but turning down the sheer wattage enough to allow Amanda to perceive the faintest of black tracings at the edge. Not a curse, not a spell.
A shield. One that could only have been created by—but her mind refused to even acknowledge that as a possibility.
It was impossible for an unborn fetus to shield itself from astral attack!
"Sleep," she whispered hoarsely to Maya, grasping the shreds of her powers before shock flung them away completely. "Sleep dreamlessly, Maya, until I wake you."
Maya went under beautifully and Amanda slid off the bed with a thud. "Kyrian," she whispered, knowing he would hear her. He strode into the room without hesitation and the concern on his face told her he'd heard every word and caught the confusion she'd projected. "Kyrian, the baby, my God!"
#&#
Acheron was already in the living room when Kyrian and Amanda arrived a few minutes later, and he was obviously expecting them. Kyrian looked at him quizzically but Amanda was still too shaken to even notice. Ash answered Kyrian's unspoken question anyway. "I was up, of course I heard, and Nick's sleeping like a baby thanks to a little dose of mojo because I didn't think it'd help if he came rushing in there while your wife knocked Maya out. Now what's got Amanda looking like she's seen a ghost?"
"Damned if I know," he said, still supporting his wife with an arm around her waist. "She went in to take care of Maya and then just freaked out on me—I think she thinks there's something wrong with Maya's baby or something, I can't get anything coherent out of her at all."
Amanda shivered and seemed to come back to herself at the sight of Acheron. He felt her powers surge and knew she was reading his aura—gods, he hated that, but he wouldn't draw it in this time just in case she had a reason for it. "Not quite," she murmured. "Almost, but not quite the same… but what could cause that?"
Ash took her arms and shook her gently. His heart pounded with a worry he couldn't explain. "What's going on, Amanda?" he asked sternly. "Give me a straight answer now or I'm going into your mind. I get the impression that this is too important for guessing games."
Amanda met his swirling mercury eyes. "The baby has to have some kind of major power," she whispered, still agitated. "There's no other explanation—unless—no, that's impossible. Still—I mean, there's no other way, is there? Even your aura—it's not the same. Not as strong…"
Acheron turned and sped up the stairs while Amanda was still speaking. No, it couldn't be, he would've felt it at once if Maya's child possessed the kind of power Amanda described—wouldn't he? He pushed open Maya's door and found her sleeping peacefully, the mark of Amanda's spell clear on her as he opened his mind to find her aura.
Normal. Human, marked with her worries and injuries, but not touched by any curse. His enormous sense of relief was way out of line and well he knew it, but he couldn't tamp it down. There was no trace of any overwhelming power in the room. Amanda had to be wrong.
But then, as though catching his thought, a new aura suddenly came to life, a gentle radiance growing and growing until Maya's was completely obscured. And like Amanda, Acheron saw that thin black band, the evidence of a shielding so complete it had taken him several hundred years to perfect it. No, he would not have detected this even if he'd quested for it specifically—that shield was too strong. He opened his mouth, feeling Kyrian stop beside him, but no words would come. For the first time in untold thousands of years, Acheron was speechless.
Amanda was right, the baby had some serious power, but she didn't know the half of it. This child was almost certainly descended of a god. Nothing short of divinity could create such a luminescent aura, and there was no other way such a thing could have been so completely hidden from one with the abilities Acheron himself possessed.
Kyrian's sharply indrawn breath jolted Ash back to the present. "Damn," he whispered, wishing his extrasensory powers had included the ability to see auras. "First Amanda, now Ash—"
Acheron grabbed Kyrian so abruptly the former Dark-Hunter jumped. "Tell me exactly what you heard when you listened outside the door," he demanded fiercely. "Every word, Kyrian."
Kyrian didn't even bother to ask how Ash knew he'd been outside while Amanda tended Maya. He recited everything, Maya's horror of her dreams taking on new importance to him. The future, she'd said when Amanda had asked her what so terrified her in her dreams. And I don't know if I survive again.
Acheron looked grim. "Get a Dream-Hunter in here," he ordered. "Get V'Edrix if you can. Hell, get him if you can't. There's something major going on here and I don't like working in the dark. Then do something for your wife. She's shocked but we need her at the top of her game until I know what's up."
"And Nick?" Kyrian asked.
"Say a word to him and I'll kill you myself," Ash growled.
"Good call," Kyrian agreed as he dashed out the door to call V'Edrix in.
The Dream-Hunter arrived less than an hour later. Bypassing all security, he simply materialized inside Maya's room, sparing only a brief nod for Acheron as he turned his attention to the woman on the bed. He sucked in a breath and narrowed his eyes at the sight of her bruises. Acheron had requested V'Edrix specifically because he'd always felt a special responsibility for those who had been abused and he'd known that one look at Maya would cut short any questions the Dream-Hunter might have asked.
As Ash had guessed, he didn't waste time commenting on her injuries or asking what had happened. V'Edrix simply dragged a chair up beside the bed and sat down. "The sorceress will need to remove her spell," he said. "It is a good one, but will hinder me."
Acheron stepped out and returned less than a minute later with Amanda. Whatever Kyrian had done for her, her eyes were no longer wild and her face, while pale, was calm again. She rested her hand over Maya's closed eyes and murmured a few words in her ear, not waking her but revoking the injunction not to dream. V'Edrix nodded his thanks and laid a hand on Maya's shoulder.
He shot a brief glance at Ash. "There is a reason she has not been healed, I presume?"
Ash felt a surge of irrational defensiveness as though he had been accused of negligence but pushed it impatiently aside. Damn, but he was edgy where this woman was concerned, and it wasn't like him at all. "She is a normal human," he said simply. "She knows nothing of any of us despite being the sister of a Squire. I thought it best to allow her to heal at a rate she won't question."
"Ah," V'Edrix said noncommittally. Then he closed his eyes, blocking Acheron out, focusing on Maya.
Long minutes passed. V'Edrix's face, so stony and emotionless when he dealt with humans or any other Hunters, lost its impassive cast as he followed Maya through her dreams. Every spasm of pain or fear that passed through her showed on his face but she slept calmly, her face angelic, as he took the terror from her.
And then his eyes flew open. His hand did not leave her shoulder and it was quickly clear that he did not see the room around him, continuing to walk in the world of her dreams, but his lips drew back from his teeth and his jaw clenched. Ash stood perfectly still lest any motion disturb the Dream-Hunter. He'd never seen a Dream-Hunter work with open eyes before and the strangeness of it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. V'Edrix's forehead moistened with sweat and his breath quickened, shuddering as he absorbed whatever nightmare vision that had tormented Maya, but he did not move.
A glow started at the edges of Acheron's vision. He almost started but stopped himself in time, ever conscious of V'Edrix's open eyes. The radiance grew, suffusing the entire room as the minutes passed, until Ash closed his eyes in an effort to escape it. He'd never been uncomfortable with magic, but this was something far beyond anything he'd experienced before and there was little doubt at all where it came from.
Maya's unborn child was reaching out to the Dream-Hunter.