"A Nightmare to Remember" by Ryley Breen AKA Shadow Master

email: rybreen@theberries.ns.ca

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Castle Wyvern Tower, Sunset

"You sure this is such a good idea?" Elisa asked as she watched the sun slowly disappear beneath the horizon.

"Detective it makes perfect sense, they are already nocturnal and are protectors by nature." , Xanatos replied with a slightly smug look on his face, "Besides its either than or get hooked on speed and I'm told that it is not very good for one's health."

"Fine. Let's just see if they'll do it first before you go making any plans." stated Elisa as the last few rays of sunshine faded away.

Finally the last bit of sunlight vanished from the skies and cracks began to appear on the smooth stone statues before the trio. It was an awakening like no other, one that put that film about catching ghosts to shame in terms of realism. Xanatos and Owen looked on with anticipation but Elisa Maza looked at the forms before her with something more than simple eagerness. For nearly three years she had fought beside these guardians of the night and their prescense certainly livened things up. After all what cop could say that they had gone on a world cruise helping people from every walk of life. Not only that but she had encountered beings that she had only seen in fairy tales, gods and godesses as well as characters from some classic works of Shakespeare. Not that she wasn't quick to adapt to the different situations but she was beginning to wonder when they would hit that glass barrier between reality and fantasy, if it really existed at all. Knowing that the clan would be fully awake in about a second she put such thoughts away and began to run through what she would say to Goliath.

After all what can I tell him? That 'the boogy-man is killing kids in their dreams and I need you to make sure I don't wind up on the slab!'? , she said with a sarcastic grin as the lavender giant before her streched his wings out, Yeah, like he'd believe that!

Sensing people behind him Goliath turned around and said "Elisa! What brings you to my perch tonight?"

"Well we hit a break in the homicide case that I think you guys should hear about." she replied as she looked around the edges of the tower as the others joined them.

"What kind of break Elisa? The sicko get sloppy?" Broadway asked as he hung on her every word.

She smiled as the aqua gargoyle fell into the role of rookie detective and replied "No he's still as sick as ever but thanks to a surprise appearance I was able to I.D him."

"What!?" exclaimed Goliath as concern covered his face like the tide coming in.

"He actually showed up at the station?!" Brooklyn asked with equal disbelief.

"In a fashion. Apparently this isn't your ordinary serial killer and we're not gonna catch him using the usual methods" she replied and immediately went into the explanation of what she learned about Freddy.

Most of the clan looked back at her with looks of concern and fear but

Hudson was stroking his beard with eyes hat told her he was in deep thought. It was only to be expected that the clan would react in such a way, they were used to fighting physical beings that could feel pain. It was a whole new ballgame fighting someone who could only be found in your dreams, the one place where it was the strength of your mind and spirit that mattered not your body. Still they had overcome worse and with a little luck they could overcome this before things became too serious.

"What can we do?" Goliath asked after he had riegned in his fear and put his stoney face on.

"There is not much you can do physically Goliath since this entity possesses no form in the physical world. Mr. Xanatos has suggested that the best way you could aide us is by standing guard during the night over the necessary individuals while they sleep." , replied Owen in his usual robotic way, "From the examples of the two previous victims it is obvious that staying awake constantly is ineffective at best. Thus it will be up to the clan to waken us should Freddy make a move while we sleep."

"In other words you want us to babysit and dunk you in cold water if it looks like you're fighting someone?" inquired Brooklyn with a grin plastered on his face.

Elisa knew instantly what the beaked gargoyle was thinking and even she had to smile a bit at the idea of him watching over Xanatos or Owen. No doubt there would be a few 'accidents' and misfires that would result in one of the two getting wet unecessarily. Unfortunatly for the brick red gargoyle both businessmen caught on as well and gave him a glare that clearly stated his fate if he awoke them for his own amusement. Putting up his hands in surrender Brooklyn's grin disappeared mostly from his face but not entirely.

"While I would understand if you did drop me in the tub I would quite frankly prefer a more dignified method like a slap across the face or maybe an electric shock." stated Xanatos as he gave another penetrating glare to Brooklyn.

"Very well. Broadway and Lexington will go watch over Detective Bluestone while Hudson and Bronx keep watch over the Xanatoses." , Goliath stated as he looked at each member of the Clan, "Angela and Brooklyn will go to the Labyrinth to monitor matters there while I take Elisa back to her apartment and keep watch over her there."

After nodding in agreement each team of two took off for their designated post until only Elisa and Goliath remained on the tower. Whether this was by design or accident was anyone's guess but both present at the moment found it awefully convenient. Without a word the lavender giant scooped up his raven-haired friend and jumped off the tower into the darkening night. After all in the past few months they had needed fewer and fewer words to convey what they wanted to say. Eventually all that was needed was a simple look and that was it. Elisa loved the emotions she could convey to him in such a romantic way, almost as much as seeing what he was trying to convey to her. For a moment she paused, sensing the feelings of contentment and warmth possessing a new value than what she had placed on it before. It was as if her subconscious had picked up on something that her conscious mind hadn't, something that made these moments all the more precious. She shook the thought from her mind and instead focused on the city laid out before her, dismissing the foreboding feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach.

It's nothing! We're going to get through this like every other scumbag we've had to fight since the Clan woke up three years ago! she thought to herself stubbornly as she waited for her apartment to come up ahead of them.

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Matt Bluestone's Apartment, 8:00 p.m

"Well guys I'm going to turn in for the night and hope to catch up on all of the sleep I've lost" Matt said as he got up from the couch and started walking in the direction of the bedroom.

"Sure thing Matt!" , Broadway replied as he slammed back another can of pop while watching TV, " Any particular way you'd prefer to be woken up with?"

"Surprise me." Matt said as he closed the door behind him.

He could just imagine the looks both Lexington and Broadway were giving him and for a moment he wished he could have taken back what he had just said. After all he had a P.I-wannabe and a computor geek out there with vivid imaginations babysitting him which meant that asking them to surprise him could be trouble. Still he needed to catch up with his sleep if he was going to be in any condition to help Elisa solve this case. Matt chuckled a bit to himself as he began to strip down to just his boxers, to him it was amazing just how wierd his life had gotten since he came to this town. At the moment his abnormal cases seemed to outnumber his normal ones and it was beginning to affect him in unusual ways. For one thing he had begun to make random visits to an occult shop in town for magic charms and books like most people would go for groceries. Of course he would show most of his purchases to Mr. Burnette to verify their magic potential but for the most part he bought them for the added security they were supposed to give him. After all he didn't have the pull with the Clan that Elisa had and past experience had taught him that he didn't have his partner's uncanny ability to survive just about any catastrophe. Personally he hoped that whatever god or diety that was smiling on Elisa would look upon him a little more often.

Chances are though that the only god who would do me a favor is one who protects paranoid ex-F.B.I agents. Matt thought to himself as he pulled back the covers and slid into bed.

Five minutes later Matt was fast asleep.

*********************

"So what do you think about this whole mess?" Lexington asked as he went to the fridge to get himself a small snack.

"Well if Elisa says she was attacked in her dreams by some psycho killer than I believe her." , Broadway replied firmly, "Still how do you stop someone who you can only see when you're asleep?"

"Good question." , Lexington replied as he tried to find something besides leftover pizza and pop to eat, Too bad I don't have any answers.

It was a rare moment when he was actually stumped by a problem, being the resident genius and all, but this one had him stumped. After all he had never heard anything about this from the Clan elders back in tenth century Scotland and in the here and now most sources of information on dream killers was mere speculation. Still at least they had Owen in their corner, with Puck's knowledge of all things mystical it shouldn't be too long before they had a battle plan to deal with this thing. Until then he an Broadway would just have to make sure that nothing happened to Matt while he slept hopefully that wouldn't be too hard. Closing the fridge he put his sandwich on the counter and began to fill a large vase with cold water from the kitchen sink just in case this Freddy made an appearance. Hopefully a cold dash of water would be enough to wake Matt up because he personally didn't want to have to try one of the more dangerous solutions.

Once finished he went over to Matt's computer and switched it on hoping that he could get a hold of one of his online pals and see if they had heard anything about a dream killer. Maybe 'Witch-GRL' knew about this thing, she always gave the impession that she knew more about the things that went bump in the night than any of the others at the chat room. He tried once to use the super computors at the Eryie Building to track her down but the closest he had ever gotten was some place called Sunnydale, California before the connection was broken. Even though he didn't know who she was beyond the codename she still had passed along some helpful hints and facts so he didn't mind much that she wanted her privacy. It took him awhile to track her down but eventually he did in the chat room of some wiccah homepage at spooky.net where apparently she had fallen back on her old topic of 'how to cure werewolfism in the least painful way possible'. It had been a topic he had seen her engage in a few times before when he had logged onto the chat room but it really seemed to be bugging her this time. Waiting for a gap in the replies to her inquiries

finally got an opening and dove in head first:

Lex : Hey Witch-GRL! Hate to take you away from your favorite topic

but I've got a problem and I was wondering if you knew

anything that could help me?

Witch-GRL : Sure, whats the problem? Having trouble with those

Quarrymen raiding P.I.T meetings?

Lex : Nah, that virus you planted in their mainframe

totally crashed it. Some friends of mine have stumbled

into something a little too wierd and need some help.

Ever hear anything about some evil spirit that kills you

in your dreams? Something named Freddy?

Right then and there the entire chat room seemed to come to a screeching halt and there were no new entries from Witch-GRL or anyone else for a minute or two. Lex wondered for a moment if Matt's computor had just frozen up but then his friend finally replied.

Witch-GRL : What do you know?

Lex : Just that there have been a rash of really gorey

killings in Manhattan and that the cops are clueless as

to how to catch this guy. He leaves no real evidence at

the crime scene and every last one of his victims had

been trying to stay awake like crazy for about a week.

My friends and I were about to brush it off as another

Big apple psycho until one of them had a wierd dream

about some guy in a red and green striped sweater who

called himself Freddy. This guy cut her in her dream but

when she woke up she was bleeding in the exact same spot

as if it had actually happened. What do you know about

this?

Witch-GRL : Not a lot but a friend of mine is here and

I'll bet he knows but this could take a while. He needs

to find the correct book first and MAN does he have a

lot of books.

Lex : No problem! I've got all night!

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The Eryie Building, Xanatos' Master Bedroom, 9:00 p.m

"Fox you *are* getting on that flight and you are going to the Bahamas for the next little while!" David Xanatos stated firmly as he continued to pack a bag for his wife.

"Forget it David! I'm not going to tuck tail and run while you, Maza and the Clan take on some sicko who looks like death warmed over!" Fox retorted as she took what he had just placed in her suitcase back into it's correct spot in the dresser.

David sighed and stroked his beard in frustration as he looked at his wife who was standing before him with a look on her face that she usually reserved for the 'evil ninjas' on her old show. Then again that was one of the reasons why he had married her in the first place, she was strong willed and knew how to get what she wanted. When he had made his first million he could have had anything he wanted and just about any woman he wanted without any problem whatsoever. Unfortunatly most of the women who had come calling to his front door were bubble-brained airheads who thought all they had to do was perform well in bed to win his hand in marriage. While that was certainly one of the qualities he had been looking for it was not by any means the only one and when he laid eyes on Fox that first time at a social function Halcyon Renard had been throwing he knew she was the one. From then on it was only a matter of time before he managed to wrestle her away from her father and right into his waiting arms. Unfortunatly the very same qualities that had attracted him to her were stopping him from keeping her safe so that didn't exactly improve the situation much.

"More like well done Fox from the way that Detective Maza has described him." , Xanatos replied as he tried to put his thoughts in order, "Fox, its just too dangerous for you and Alex to stay here. This Freddy person attacks you in your sleep and is dangerous to make even Owen's skin go a bit paler at the mention of his name. Thats reason enough to get you two to safety which in this case means as far from here as possible."

"*Honey*, you know I love you but since when have I ever played the obedient wife in this marriage?" , Fox replied sarcastically with the eyebrow over her tatoo raised in question, "Look! How about a compromise? I'll send Alex to your father's place in Maine if you quit trying to pack my bags, okay?"

David frowned a bit as he took in what his wife had laid out for him in terms of choices. Either he allowed her to stay and risk losing her to a psychotic sandman or force her to leave and risk the cold sholder routine for probably two months at the least. Neither choice was particular but her compromise proposal would at least get his son out of the state so in the end he sighed deeply in defeat which only caused the smile on his wife's face to get bigger. With nothing left to do he left the Master bedroom and proceeded down the hallway towards his office to do some work. He knew he was dead tired and that the proper thing to do was probably to go straight to bed but unlike the other human tenants of the

Eyrie Building he was not about to put himself in a vulnerable position. In everything he did he made sure that he had the upper hand from start to finish and so far only a certain Lord of the third race and wife had managed to defeat him in that respect. He was not about to let some serial killer get the better of him and if that meant losing a week of sleep to this being then so be it.

"Mr. Xanatos?" came Owen's familiar voice from behind him.

Stopping and turning around he replied "Yes Owen, what is it?"

"There is a Mr. Duval on the phone for you." , Owen replied with some seriousness, "He seemed to imply that procrastination would not be advisable."

Well it had to happen sooner or later! Xanatos thought with a groan as briefly stroked his beard in annoyance.

"Put the call through to my office, I'll take the call there." Xanatos stated and without further conversation he continued on his route to his office.

It had been inevitable that he would recieve a call from his immediate superior in the Illuminati Society concerning his inquiries but he had possessed a small hope that they would ignore him. After all despite the strides he had made in his standing in regards to other members but he was still considered by most to be insignificant and wet behind the ears. Unfortunatly it seemed that the higer-ups were taking exception to this situation which meant that this was something a bit more important than a nuiscence to them. That left him with something to work with in his defense, he could imply that this was an invaluable oppourtunity to learn more about this entity and perhaps control it. After all despite the reputation that this 'Freddy' might have garnered in the town of Springwood things would turn out differently here with the resources of Xanatos Enterprises at his disposal. Perhaps with a bit of cajoling he might be able to convince Mr. Duval to send him what the Society had on the entity already despite the lid that was being kept on it. There was a chance and he was quite accustomed to taking full advantage of such oppourtunities and turning them into multi-million dollar blockbuster deals.

With a practised motion he entered his office and sat down at his desk, putting on his calm visage, before he activated the vid-phone that all Illuminati members possessed. For a moment all he saw was the symbol of the Society, a pyramid with a fiery eye at the top, which symbolized the alpha and the omega. It was a bit arroagant but it was supposedly meant to imply that the Society was eternal and that it was responsible for everything that happened in the world. While he knew that the Illuminati were involved in a great number of things he doubted that they were responsible for everything. Eventually the symbol flickered and it was replaced by the silohette of a large chair with a few specks of light bouncing off the form of a man sitting in the chair. It was a common parlor trick among the upper class of the Society to put on this facade of anonymity whenever speaking to a lower member. It's purpose, at least according to rumors, was to intimidate others into obediance since the person would not know if the superior was friend or foe. Unfortunatly that particular trick didn't work as well on one David Petros Xanatos, or at least that was what he tried to convey in his expressions.

"Greetings Chairman of the fourth circle." Xanatos said in the customary fashion.

"Greetings chair four of the fourth circle." , replied the distorted voice of the stranger, "You know why I have contacted you?"

"I suspect it has to do with my inquiries concerning the gruesome murders that Detective Maza has been investigating." replied Xanatos as he tried to guess his superior's reaction to this.

"Correct. I believe you were encouraged to discontinue this avenue of investigation before now." , the stranger stated firmly but with an air of sympathy, "Why have you not done so?"

"I have not done so because I believe that ignoring this could be an ill-advised move considering what my assistant Mr. Burnette has told me."

Xanatos replied simply as he tried to keep most of the information he had

aquired to himself.

"What exactly has he told you?" inquired the stranger with a note of curiousity.

"That a malevolant entity named 'Freddy' kills people, generally teenagers, in their dreams and has up until a few years ago was based in Springwood, Ohio." , Xanatos replied carefully as he tried to gauge his opponant's emotional status, "Now however he seems to have set down roots in Manhattan starting his reign of terror with murders apparently committed with a glove with razor tipped fingers."

From what he had managed to uncover so far from mere sight alone it seemed that the stranger was someone who had most likely voted to allow him access to the Society's files but had been outvoted in the end. It also seemed as though he had a personal stake in this cause which was a bit of a surprise but was also a welcome bit of information. It meant that if he could persuade this man of the severity of the situation he might be able to get a little more than a few files. Maybe if he played his cards right he might be able to aquire a weapon with which to fight this killer. From this moment on his mind switched from a reconaissance format to a surgical strike mission to aquire previously inaccessible tools. For a moment the person seemed to be at a loss as to what to do but more likely he was being spoken to via another line and was waiting for a decision to be made.

"It seems I have underestimated your resourcefulness Xanatos." , the stranger remarked before continuing, "Still I would reiterate that you should drop this investigation as well as leave the city for the foreseeable future. This entity has proven extremely resistant to extermination in the past and the Society believes it would be more efficient to simply avoid it."

"May inquire as to why this is the best course of action?" Xanatos asked as his composure shifted to one of intense interest.

"Suffice it to say that the entity has shown signs of being able to access a victim's memories during the confrontation." , replied the stranger calmly, "The other chairmen believe it too risky to allow a member even as low in rank as you to come into contact with it for fear that it might learn too much."

That caused Xanatos to be the one to look back in silence as he attempted to put this bit of information into context. If Freddy could access their memories and thus their plans to defeat him it was no wonder he had lasted as long as he had. He had probably disappeared more of his own volition than his enemies which made him even more formidable than he had been before. More importantly if Maza, Bluestone or Fox had fallen asleep already it could mean that the Clan's effectiveness was efficiently removed from play. As soon as he finished this conversation he would have to call them and convince them to stay awake until they came up with a more secure method of defense. Returning his attention to the Chairman of his circle he decided to play the hand that he hoped would win him some help from the society.

"I appreciate the concern sir but I'm afraid that I have never been much of a coward. Besides I still believe it would be worth the risks involved to confront the entity now." , Xanatos stated firmly and with a bit of confidence, "I don't suppose the society has any resources that might prove useful in dealing with the entity?"

"Unfortunatly no, we have nothing that the entity would not be able to circumvent eventually." , the stranger said with visible disappointment, "Still if you insist on confronting this being I can tell you this bit of information. The Society believes that the entity came to Manhattan inside a host from the Southside Youth Center roughly three years ago."

With that the communication abrubtly cut-off and David Xanatos got the distinct feeling that his superior was not cleared to divulge that particular piece of information to him. After silently thanking this mysterious person he picked up the phone and immediatly dialed Detective Maza's phone number. It ringed three times before it was finally picked up but it wasn't Elisa Maza's voice who greeted him on the other end.

"Yes?" Goliath asked over the phone with a bit of discomfort in his voice.

"Goliath you must wake up Detective Maza immediatly." , Xanatos said with an edge to his voice, "I have reason to believe Freddy knows of our precautions and might be able to neutralize them."

The only reply he got at the other end was the thunk of the reciever hitting the ground and the sound of large, heavy footfalls going away from it. Deciding that it was being taken care of at Maza's apartment he hung up and began to call the apartment of one Matt Bluestone.

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*

Elisa Maza's Apartment, 9:30 p.m.

"Elisa!!" Goliath yelled as he raced into the bedroom in search of the only human member of his clan.

He had been on edge ever since he had first heard of these killings from

Elisa three days ago and had been worried that a man depraived enough to do what this killer had done might decide to add her to his hitlist. The news he had recieved tonight only confirmed his fears as he learned that this being was not only supernatural in nature but also attacked his victims when they were most vulnerable. From that moment on he had watched Elisa like a hawk, never leaving her side for more than a moment. When he had heard the phone ringing a few moments earlier he had been tempted to simply ignore it in favor of watching his friend but now he was glad that he had answered it. The knowledge that this evil force might be able to render his protection useless sent chills down his spine and now drove him to insure that the strong woman in the next room was still safe. Looking at her bed from the doorway he could see nothing immediatly different from what he had seen before but he had long ago learned that in this new age nothing is as it appears.

Reaching out he flicked the lightswitch up with the tip of his talon and then looked back to the bed to see if the newly lightened scene had changed his earlier perceptions. Nothing seemed to have changed except that Elisa had rolled over onto her side, perhaps as a sign that she wanted to get away from the light. Whether or not this meant that the evil entity had taken hold he did not know but he did know he had to awaken Elisa immediatly. Carefully he walked over to the side of the bed, to wake her if she was asleep or to inform her of the situation if she was awake.

"Elisa you must wake up!" , he declared loudly as he reached over to

shaked her awake, "Freddy knows of our precautions! Elisa, please wake

up!"

Goliath shook her again and again, each time harder than before, hoping that he was not to late to save her. Suddenly Elisa sprung to her feet causing him to back up in surprise before noticing that she was still asleep and completely unaware of his prescence. Unfortunatly before he could do anything about it Elisa's sleeping form delivered an uppercut with more force than should have been possible for a woman of her size. Frozen by shock Goliath didn't block it in time and it connected with his jaw sending him hard into the wall opposite the door. Momentarily stunned he soon recovered as he saw Elisa run from the room with great speed and took off in quick pursuit. Not willing to wait to see what Freddy had in store for her he tackled her to the ground hoping to be able to pin her there until he could devise a method of awakening her. No sooner though did they hit the ground then Elisa arched her hip up bucking him off her and onto what was once a coffee table. Looking back he saw her get up apparently none the worse for wear and ready to start anew with the struggle. Unfortunatly even he realized that so long as Elisa was in the entity's grasp any attempts to restrain her would do more harm then good. That left him with one puzzling question:

How could he free her from his grasp?