"Oh, aren't you a tasty little morsel?" A raspy voice called out as a Phobetor Skoti came around the corner.

Darkness fell around them and the trees creaked and hissed as wind whipped up. The woods grew and spread around the cottage to morph the scene into something like The Holt compound. The Skotus was trying to scare her. And it was working.

Stef started to back away as she saw the creature appear in her dream.

The Skotus looked like a huge cobra with glowing yellow eyes and black scales.

Phobos put an arm around Stef and leaned his head down. "Has this happened in your dreams before? Creatures like this?"

Stef nodded. "Every time I dream since leaving The Holt. Unless I have my dreamcatcher. That was why I was on the drugs so much. It made the dreams too jumbled to remember anything."

Phobos, couldn't believe it. Granted, she had the protection of the magic around The Holt until she was nearly 13, and then has had the dreamcatcher for nearly ten years, that still left, what six years or so inbetween where she was being hunted by Skoti every night? Shit. How did no one ever know about her before now? The Skoti couldn't have kept the secret that well. For that matter, how did she survive without going mad? Did the drugs really help?

Phobos kissed the top of her head, comfortingly, then moved to put himself between Stef and the Skotus. "This isn't your next meal Corwin."

Stef was not sure what to think. Phobos called this one by name. Seriously, do they all know each other?

"Phobos, you are not Oneroi to be so protective of the human. Let me feed on her fear. As a god of fear, I would assume that you can sense that she has so much." Corwin hissed.

Phobos stood his ground. "Now, I realize that you are new to the full range of your emotions. But, surely, you have learned a sense of self preservation at this point. The girl is protected." Then Phobos materialized a sword and a harness of weapons around him.

"Would you really risk killing me over a human?" Corwin questioned.

Phobos shrugged. "She is not fully human though, is she?"

Corwin smirked. "But, that is what makes her so tasty."

"And that is what takes her off the menu."

Stef was amazed, the creature showed obvious signs of fear toward Phobos. He really was bad ass.

Yet, despite the creatures fears, the snake divided into three and struck for the attack.

Phobos sprung into action. He threw up a shield around Stef and then engaged the three Skotus copies. He was fast and fluid as he engaged three attackers at one time. The first that made full contact managed to bite him on the arm but Phobos cut its' head clean off during the attack. The second tried to strike, only to miss Phobos. However, that gave him the clearance to drive the sword straight into its' skull. The third was the only one remaining.

The snake then changed into a man with long black hair and pale blue eyes like Stef's. He wore all black scaled armor and lunged toward Phobos in fury. Phobos parried and twisted. Within seconds, he had disarmed Corwin and had him pinned to the ground.

"I gave you a chance to leave peacefully. Now, you will have to take time to heal."

Then Phobos ran his sword through Corwin's stomach. Stef gasped and covered her mouth with both hands.

"Go now, before I change my mind and kill you after all. But, remember, the girl is off the menu. For good."

Corwin nodded and then flashed out of the dream.

Phobos turned to see Stef's look of shock. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It had to be done. Protecting her was more important than her approval of him. No matter what his emotions wanted, he was only there to protect her. He had to hold on to that.

Phobos dropped the shield around Stef and kept a comfortable distance.

Stef didn't know what to think. This was Phobos. The warrior. The killer. The man who would not even flinch as he stabbed a disarmed man on the floor below him. OK, it was a man that was previously a snake that split into three snakes and tried to attack her. But, still.

She took a deep breath and walked up to Phobos and laced her fingers through his.

Phobos was stunned. "What are you doing?"

"You said you would be here to protect me and that is what you did. It will take me some time to process all of this. But, for now. I trust you."

Phobos scowled. "OK. If you are going to trust me, then I want to test a few things."

"Like what?". Stef asked hesitantly.

"I want to see if you can control your dreams."

Stef was puzzled. "I don't know. As a child, I never had dreams. Then when I was living on the streets, I only had nightmares. When Agnes gave me the dreamcatcher, the dreams stopped again. I don't really have experience with dreams."

Phobos looked at Stef. "Why don't you try to change the dream?"

"To what?"

"To anything that you want, some place you enjoy."

Stef thought about it. She did not have a place that she really enjoyed. But, she did have a nice time for a few minutes at dinner earlier that night.

So, she concentrated on the Acme Oyster House. The restaurant appeared around them. They were seated at the same table.

Phobos laughed. "This was a memory you enjoyed?"

She shrugged. "It was not the worst date that I have ever been on."

It was strange how the two of them had been at that restaurant just hours before, yet it felt like years ago. So much had happened since she saw him sitting at the table alone.

"Perhaps we could make this a do over?" Stef asked Phobos.

Phobos sighed. "Is that what you really want? I still sense the fear from you. You just saw the kind of man that I can be. And that was one of the least bloody or violent interactions."

Stef reached across the table and took his hand into hers. "I don't know you well enough to promise anything. Not yet. But, I want to try. I want to get to know you as you really are."

Her words sounded wonderful. But, Phobos was still not sure he could trust her.

But, before they could discuss it further, they were both woken by the sounds of Deimos pounding on Stef's door.

"Come in!" Phobos shouted. "No need to break the door down."

Deimos scowled as he saw Phobos in bed with Stef. Phobos gestured to his sleeping position to prove he was not up to anything kinky. "Corwin was in her dreams last night."

Stef groaned as she rolled over and buried her head under a pillow.

Deimos scoffed. "He never did learn when to back off."

"Yeah, well he has a pretty bad stomach ache today. That should keep him down for a day or two."

Deimos eyed Stef. "So what are you thinking?"

"I think that we need to talk to Delphine and Zeth. Her first try at changing the scene was really strong. Not as strong as Jenna, but skill none the less. And with her naturally black hair and pale blue eyes…"

"You are thinking that her father was a skotus?"

Phobos shrugged. "Seems the best place to start at this point."

Deimos nodded. "Alright, why don't you talk to Delphine and Zeth. If she is Oneroi, you should take her with you. They can sense each other like we can with other Dolophoni. I was coming to let you both know that Thorn called. One half of the Tweedledum and Tweedle Dumber couple strolled himself into Sanctuary last night. Fang was not able to pin him up in a cage, but the moron left a message. I was going to head over and take a look."

"Sounds like a plan." Phobos agreed.

Deimos paused. "Good to see your strength restored." Then Deimos left.

Phobos had not noticed that he had regained his strength until his brother said so. How did she affect him so drastically?

Please don't hurt me again Stephanie.

Stef groaned again from under her pillow. Phobos couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face as she fought waking up. She fought going to sleep so much that one would think that she would be ready to be awake.

He reached over and pulled the pillow off of her face. Her hair was a crazy mess all over the place. Her eyes were still swollen and red from the tears the night before. Her lips were slightly flushed from the sleep. Even like this, she was still the most intoxicating woman that Phobos had ever seen.

"What is wrong with you people?" Stef whined. "You turn my world upside down and now won't let me rest?"

"Are you ready to sleep without me in your dreams?" Phobos asked.

Stef yelped as she jumped to grab on to him. He chuckled. How could she be so damn cute while she was scared? OK, not when she was scared of him. But, this… this was fucking cute.

"We should go visit some friends of mine to see if they can help with the dream issues."

She scowled at him. "Does that mean that you won't protect me in my dreams any more?"

Phobos gently brushed Stef's hair out of her face. "We have talked about this before."

"And I don't believe you. If you really did not want to be near me, you would not be comforting me so much."

She was right. Zeus help him, he could not just walk away.

He started to climb out of the bed when Stef noticed the blood running down his arm from where Corwin bit him.

"What the hell?"

Phobos pulled his arm away from her. "It's nothing. I will heal quickly."

"Phobos, you are hurt because of me." The concern in her eyes touched him deeply.

"I will be fine. This probably won't even scar."

Stef did not stop there. She started to scour his arms and noticed so many scars around his hands and arms, hidden by the tattoos. Then she remembered the scars that Deimos had everywhere. So she reached and pulled his shirt up.

Phobos quickly pulled it back down. But, it was too late. Stef had seen the damage.

"Who did this to you?" She asked. Her eyes were wide.

He sighed. "Many people over a long time. It is the nature of war and battle. We have all told you that I am a violent man. Violence tends to lead to injuries. I will be OK. I always heal."

"No. Your back is not from war." She shook her head. "Who did that to you?" She pushed.

Phobos smiled at her concern and indignation. Her emotions bounced around everywhere, but he was starting to find it all charming. "Most of it was from Deimos."

"What? Your own brother beat on you?" Stef started to climb out of bed to find Deimos and go off on him.

He grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back. "And he carries the scars that I gave him. Ours was not a world like yours. Our father is Ares, the god of war. We were trained from childhood to be warriors. Our upbringing was closer to the way that the Spartan's raised their boys. It was harsh and brutal. Every day, at the end of our training, Deimos and I had to fight to show what we learned. And which ever one of us lost was to be whipped by the winner. We had no choice. We had to learn how to take the punishments without tears. But, we also had to learn to dish out the punishments without hesitation. That is a part of what makes us so good at our job."

Stef held on to him. Her head spinning at the brutality of their past. And she thought Kol was a shitty father?

Phobos may be behind the times on how to show respect toward women, but he was not cruel. Not toward her. He was protective. And given the childhood he just described, it was amazing that he was not completely insane. She really screwed up when she hurt him. Somehow, she needed to find away to make it up to him, to earn his trust again.

"Get dressed and we will go after you eat something. It is better that you get training from the people who really do this stuff." Phobos had to dig deep to every ounce of his will power to force himself to leave her side while she got ready to go.