Chapter 20: The Nightmare

Randy's POV

"Hmm . . . where . . . where am I?" I say to no one in particular as I weakly open my eyes. I look around to see that oak trees are all around me and the night sky is high above me.

"Oak trees?" I ask as I get up from the ground. I slowly look around and I am instantly drawn to the faint lights of the city skyline nearby.

"Wait a second . . . That's St. Louis! How'd I get here? Wasn't I just in Jamaica the day before?" I say as I blabber out question after question. "Where is everyone?"

"Lost, Orton?"

I stop, dead in my tracks, as I hear the voice. So familiar . . . and so surprising considering the fact that he's dead.

"Sergei?" I ask in disbelief as I slowly turn around. My eyes widen in shock as the dead vampire stands before me, but his body was completely unrecognizable. It was charred and blackened beyond recognition and his face and arms looked more skeletal than man. His clothes were completely charred as well as his eyes bored a hole straight through me.

"Like what you see Orton?" he asks me as he gestures to himself. "This is what you and Amanda did to me. Remember that night? You snapped my neck in two and your . . . mate burned my body till it became . . . this."

"I think it's a good look for you. You really do rock the . . . charred vampire look." I say with a small smirk, trying in vain to stop a nervous chuckle from passing my lips.

"Nervous, Orton? You should be because I can't wait to pay you back for what you did to me months ago." he tells me as he smirks, his white fangs the only thing shining through all that blackened skin.

"And what can you do? You're just a charred pile of bones." I say as I narrow my eyes at him. A piercing stab hits me in my back, taking me completely by surprise. I spit out blood as I feel the wound nick my spine. I slowly turn around to see that right behind me was Sergei displaying that sickening smile of his. I turn back around to see that he was still standing in front of me too.

"What the hell?" I whisper as I switch my attention between the two Sergeis. "How is this even possible?"

"I'm so going to have fun with this." says the Sergei behind me as the second Sergei appears right in front of us, impaling me in the gut with his arm. I cough up a large amount of blood as I cringe at the wound dealt to me, easily feeling the most pain coming from my stomach.

"This is pain you are feeling Randy, excruciating pain, and I'm going to make sure you feel a lot of it." says the Sergei in front of me as he turns his arm and pulls it from my gut, some of my blood spurting outward in the process. The Sergei behind me follows suit, taking his arm out from my back. The pain from my wounds envelops my body as I fall to the ground, the blood continuing to come out of my mouth as I feel my wounds barely healing.

"And the pitiful Viper falls to my feet. Look how low you have fallen." says Sergei as the two of them stand side by side above me.

"You are fucking bastards!" I mutter out as I try to move, but the pain from my spine won't let me.

"Such a vulgar mouth you have Randy." says Sergei as his sickening smile spreads across his face. "I can fix that."

He raises his foot and brings it over to my skull, ready to drop it down like a guillotine.

"One stomp should do." says the Romanian bastards as he drops his foot down for the blow. As soon as his foot makes impact, everything instantly goes black.

"SHIT!" I yell out as I feel my lungs just gasping for air. I look around to see that I'm not in a forest outside of St. Louis, but our bedroom here in Jamaica, sitting up in the bed as I clutch the sheets tightly.

"It was all a nightmare." I mutter to myself as I touch my forehead. I look at my hand in surprise to see small sweat drops on the skin. "And I actually sweated?"

"Randy?"

I turn my head to the left to see Amanda with her tired eyes open staring at me with her head propped on her elbow.

"What's wrong?" she asks me sleepily as she lets out a yawn.

"Nothing 'Manda; go back to sleep. I'm sorry for waking you up." I tell her as I let out a yawn myself. I watch her as she sits up in bed. She touches my cheek before moving her hand to my forehead and she instantly raises an eyebrow.

"You're actually sweating," she mumbles to me as she takes her hand away. "The only times you sweat is after a hard fought match or when you have a nightmare. Since we're no way near a wrestling ring, it's safe to assume that you had a nightmare kind sir."

"I told you 'Manda, it's nothing. You don't have to worry about it." I tell her as I turn away to face the window.

"I'm not buying it. Randy, something is bothering you." I groan as I hear the stubbornness in her voice. "I just want to know. You know? So I can help."

"I said no!" I snap as I turn to face her, taking her by surprise. "I don't want to talk about it! Okay?"

Her face goes from supportive to shock in five seconds flat. She lets out a deep sigh and waves me off as she settles herself back on her pillow, turning her body away from me.

"Fine . . . I'll leave you alone, but don't come crying to me when your nightmares get out of control." she tells me as she turns to face the wall. From the tone of her voice, I could easily tell that she was upset. Knowing that I was in for it come morning, I decide to deflate the situation before it could get worse.

"Amanda . . ." I mumble to her as I shake her shoulder. "I'm sorry . . . I'm sorry I snapped at you."

"All I wanted to do was help." is all she says to me as she continues to look at the wall, her arms tightly crossed against her chest.

"I know, I know," I tell her as I manage to roll her body around so that she faced me. "It's just that . . . it's something that I really don't want to talk about right now."

"I see," she tells me with a neutral look on her face. "So when are you going to be ready to talk about it? Because I am not letting this slide."

"Why?" I ask her with narrowed eyes as she sits up.

"You woke me up from my sleep just now," she tells me bluntly as she puts her hands on her hips. "I like to make sure that the things that disturb me when I sleep are settled quickly before they really mess up my slumber."

"You really love your sleep don't you?" I ask her with a small smirk.

"What gave you that idea?" she asks me with a yawn, the sarcasm evident in her voice.

"Never mind," I say with a small wave of my hand. "How about . . . I tell you in the morning? I'm just not ready to tell you about it right now. I don't really understand it myself."

"Fine . . . just don't wake me up for the rest of the night okay?" she asks me as she falls back onto her pillow. "That trip for Chinese takeout really tired me out."

"Alright . . . I'll try my best." I tell her in defeat as I put my head back on my pillow.

"Good enough for me . . . Good night!" she mumbles out. It only takes a good two minutes to pass before her even breathing and heartbeat is all I hear in the room. I sneak a quick look at her to see her looking away from me, a content look on her face as she lightly snores the night away.

If only I'm that lucky.

Amanda's POV

I open my eyes to see the white ceiling of the bedroom high above my head and I turn to my right to see that Randy was not in the bed with me.

"Randy?" I called out. I looked over at the bathroom to see that its wide open and no one's inside. I get out of the bed, put on some slippers, and walk out the room to see all the doors still closed. I check the kitchen, the living room, and all the room on the ground floor, but they are void of one Apex Predator.

"Where could he be?" I mumble to myself as I walk out the side door and into the side yard.

"Randy!?" I exclaim out loud as I look at the various mountains that surround the house. I get no answer, so I walk toward the backyard. "Randy!"

"Up here!"

I look up to see Randy sitting on the edge of the roof, still dressed in his PJs, looking down at me with a curious glare.

"How long have you been up there?" I ask him as I walk up the staircase for the second floor balcony.

"A while." he tells me with a shrug. He then stretched his arm out to me. "Need a hand?"

"Thanks" I tell him with a smirk as I grab hold of his firm hand. He pulls me up like I weighed absolutely nothing and next thing . . . I know I'm standing next to the sitting Viper on the roof.

"Have you been lifting weights?" I ask him sarcastically as I settle in my seat next to him.

"Well . . . I have been improving on my lifting," he tells me with a smirk as he wraps an arm around my waist. "Plus . . . being a vampire does have its benefits when it comes to strength."

"Yeah . . . I noticed." I tell him as I snake an arm around his waist. "Why are you out here so early in the morning?"

"I just came out here to think . . . that's all." he tells me with a kiss on the forehead.

"You were thinking about your dream from last night." I say to him with an eyebrow raised. His face changes to that of slight exhaustion at my statement, giving me a clue that what I said was right.

"I can't believe I thought about him." he mutters under his breath as he tightens his hold around my waist.

"Thought about who?" I ask him curiously as I raise an eyebrow. He turns to me with his Viper like glare before looking away again.

"Sergei" he tells me as he stares out into the rest of the valley. My eyes widen in surprise as the memories start to go through my brain, memories that I wish I could forget.

"Please . . . tell me what happened in your nightmare." I say to him as place my free hand on his cheek. His free hand removes my hand from his cheek; placing it right on his leg before turning to face me.

"Well . . . for starters, 'nightmare' is probably the best word to describe what I dreamt of last night. I was in the woods . . . outside of St. Louis when I saw him. But Sergei wasn't himself physically to be exact." he tells me with a small chuckle.

"Let me guess. His skin was all blackened and his body looked more skeletal than man?" I ask in a serious tone of voice.

"Exactly," he tells me with a sigh as he begins to trace circles on my hand with his thumb. "He told me he wanted to pay me back and then I felt this jab of absolute pain in my back. When I turned around . . . there Sergei was with his arm jabbed in my back. The blood came out my mouth, and it came out even more once the Sergei in front of me jabbed his arm into my gut."

"Wait . . . there were two Sergeis?" I ask with an eyebrow raised.

"Yep; the two of them then pulled their hands out of my body, the arms soaked in my blood as I fell to the ground in absolute pain from the wounds near my spine and stomach. All I saw next were the two Sergeis standing above me. One held his foot above my head and then lowered it down like a guillotine . . . and then everything went black.

"He basically stomped your brains out." I say bluntly as I rest my head on his shoulder.

"Basically" he tells me in agreement. "I haven't slept since."

"Randy . . . can I look through your mind for just one second?" I ask him suddenly as a thought pops into my brain.

"You don't want to see that nightmare 'Manda . . . trust me." he tells me with a sigh as he looks me in the eye.

"That's not it," I tell him with a shake of my head. "When you told me your nightmare just now, I sensed something was off. Something in your brain patterns seemed weirdly familiar to me . . . if that makes sense."

"You can sense my brain waves?" Randy asks me bluntly as he raises an eyebrow.

"I don't know . . . it's like something in your head was calling to me. And it sounded really familiar . . . like it belonged to me." I tell him unsurely as I cross my arms.

"Was it the Anaconda . . . cause I told you the story before back when you and the girls were kidnapped by those warlocks."

"No . . . it's something different." I tell him as I raise an eyebrow. "Just let me check your brain."

"Fine . . . you make it sound like your giving me one of those brain scans they do at hospitals." he tells me with a scowl as I place both my hands on the sides of his face.

"Oh stop whining!" I tell him with narrowed eyes. "And stay still."

"Okay . . ." he mumbles to me as I close my eyes. I start looking through the various memories in Randy's head till I reach the memory of his nightmare. I then scan the nightmare, sensing that this nightmare came from a power . . . my power.

How? I mumble to myself as I shake my head. I decide to go through his past memories, stopping at the memory of our fight with Sergei and his cronies back in the underground parking lot. There was one particular moment, the part when Randy and Sergei exchanged fists; that peaks my interest. During the exchange of fists, there was another exchange. Sergei implanted a mental seed into Randy's brain.

"That damn bastard. He's messing with you even in death." I mumble to him as open my eyes.

"What did you find out?" he asks me curiously, the look in his eyes telling me that he's not going to like the answer.

"Remember when Sergei told us in the woods that he has the ability to get a sample of others' abilities just by skin contact?" I ask him as I cross my arms.

"Yeah . . . I remember." he tells me with a sharp look, obviously thinking about that night.

"Well, turns out back in the parking lot under the Romanian embassy, back when you guys were pummeling each other, he used the power he gained from me to implant a seed of nightmares into your head." I tell him. I instantly move out the way as he jumps to his feet and begins to feverishly pace around the roof. "Something from yesterday must have set it off."

"That damn bastard is lucky he's dead! He actually did that to me!" exclaimed Randy as he crosses his arms and stares out at the scene in front of him. "It's sneaky . . . I give him that!"

"Don't worry Randy! I can reverse it, but . . ." I say to him, trailing off when I think of the other option.

"But what, 'Manda? What's wrong?" he asks me as he puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Well . . . two things can happen actually. One . . . I can eliminate the nightmares just like that in an instant, but the nightmares must have been created by a less powerful psychic. If the nightmares were caused by a very powerful psychic, you would have to stop the nightmares on your own." I tell him as I bite my thumb. "You know . . . fight them off by yourself?"

"Sergei didn't have your powers for very long. Maybe you can reverse it." he tells me, the look of hope evident in his eyes.

"Hopefully," I mumble as I shake my head. "He may not have had my powers for very long, but they're my powers nonetheless."

"It's worth a shot." he tells me as he lets out a sigh. "Work your magic."

"Don't you dare use that phrase ever again to describe my powers. I take offense to that." I tell him with a scowl as I place a hand to his temple.

"Sorry . . ." he mumbles as he closes his eyes. I close my eyes and go straight toward that seed of nightmares planted in his memories. Every person's mind is filled with memories, which are represented by mirrors of various shapes and sizes, from big to small, to ornate to plain. Each mirror can also serve as a portal into the memory, letting any person walk in to live through the memory themselves. The mirror holding the memory of the fight in the parking lot was covered by a dark veil. Dark veils represented nightmares in the psychic sense and there were a few types of them, representing different types of nightmares. Taking the prickly fabric into my hands, I pull down on it, but it won't budge.

"Dammit . . . let me try again." I mutter to myself as I look at my hands, already bleeding from cuts thanks to the thorny fabric. I pull down once again with all my weight, dropping butt first to the ground with the fabric in hand.

"Finally!" I say to myself as I hold the fabric in my hands. It evaporates into thin air just like that, never to be seen again. "That wasn't so bad."

I take one last look at the memory before leaving Randy's memory banks, opening my eyes to see Randy still with his eyes closed.

"Okay . . . you can open your eyes now." I say as I look at my hands, red blotches dotting my palms.

"Did it work?" he asks me as he opens his eyes, his stare instantly going to my hands. "What happened to your hands?"

"Prickly fabric," I mumble to him as I cross my arms. "Don't worry, they're not bleeding."

"Mind explaining the prickly fabric thing to me?" he asks me as he raises an eyebrow.

"Well . . . every person's mind has memories, which are represented by mirrors of various shapes, sizes, and designs, depending on the person. If a mirror is covered by a dark veil, then it means that memory is infected by a nightmare. If the fabric of the veil is smooth to the touch, then the nightmare is practically harmless. But if the fabric is prickly and rough, then the nightmare is causing mental anguish for the sufferer, sometimes even going as far as to actually having a physical effect on the person in the physical world when they touch it in the mental world." I tell him as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "That's why I have these red blotches on my hands."

"I see." says Randy as he puts a hand under his chin. "So, Sergei planted the nightmare veil to give me mental anguish even after his death."

"And it's going to continue." I tell him with a shake of my head.

"WHAT?" he asks me totally surprised as his eyes widen. "Didn't you fix it?"

"I removed the veil, so you won't be permanently ridden with nightmares." I tell him as I raise my hands up. "But the prickly nightmare veil has lingering effects even after removal. Don't worry . . . you will only suffer from nightmares for a few more days."

"Well . . . that's something I didn't want to worry about on my vacation." says Randy as he turns away from me. "Looks like I'm pulling all-nighters for the next few days."

"Yeah . . . that's not going to work." I tell him with a sad shake of my head. "The nightmares are still going to be there. You're going to have to tough it out till the nightmares fully go away."

"SHITTTTTTT." Randy moans out as he puts his hands on his head.

"Hey!" I say as I place my hands on my hips. "I know you can tough it out. And if you can't . . . I know one shoulder you can lean on."

"Do you really want 245 pounds of my body weight leaning up against you?" he asks me sarcastically as he crosses his arms.

"Well . . . if you don't like the suggestion, then I might as well leave you to suffer." I say to him as I walk over to the roof's edge. Randy runs over to me and stops me right in my tracks, putting his hands on my shoulders to stop me.

"I was only being sarcastic," he tells me with a shake of his head. "But I am glad that I won't have to go through this alone, unless you don't like the probability of me shouting out and thrashing around in the bed."

"I'll see what I can do." I tell him with a smirk as he traps me in a hug.

"AMANDA, RANDY, YOU OUT HERE!"

We both walk over to the roof's edge to see Adam looking out into the backyard, dressed in a T-shirt and his trunks.

"Hey doofus! We're up here!" exclaims Randy. Adam looks up at us in surprise before a smirk replaces it.

"What the fuck are you two doing up there in your PJs? Get your asses down here! We agreed to go down to Ocho Rios early today! Are did you two forget already?" Adam asks us as he flails his arms.

"Calm down Adam. We'll be quick!" says Randy with a wave of his hand.

"You better!" says Adam as he walks inside.

"I never thought Adam would be so hyped about going to Ocho Rios." mumbles Randy as he jumps down to the balcony, landing quietly like a cat.

"The city has a water park with a natural waterfall you can go down in. Who wouldn't be hyped?" I ask as I cross my arms.

"I just never thought Kofi would win the ghost story contest with that story of the village shaman. Damn . . . that was scary." mutters Randy as he looks up at me. "Aren't you coming down?"

"Not everyone can land like a cat." I tell him as I crouch on the roof's edge.

"Don't worry . . . I'll catch you." he tells me as he outstretches his arms.

"Promise!" he tells me with a smile. "Trust me."

I raise an unsure eyebrow, but I decide to go for it. I jump off the edge, closing my eyes the entire jump. Seconds of falling lead to me stopping and not feeling ground touching my ass. Surprised, I open my eyes to see Randy smiling at me as he holds me bridal style.

"See? Told you, you can trust me." he tells me as he plants me on my feet.

"I can't really say that about you in the ring." I tell him as I walk inside.

"Hurtful . . . "I hear him say to me, making me smirk at the sound of his husky voice. ". . . But kinda true."

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