Chapter 14 - Sweet Dreams.

Jacob POV

Explain what happened on the platform? Well I heard the click of brass on stone, and that naturally captured my attention. Somehow I knew exactly what I was going to see when I looked there, but it still came as something of a shock when I once again locked onto those two sparkling pools of crimson. In half a second all of my surroundings fell away from me and it was just the two of us, standing in a dark room. It was warm, but not overly so, and the air was fresh and not stale. She stepped forward into a pool of light and I could see her perfectly. I was immobile, fixed by the sight of her, as she slipped out of her fur coat, letting it fall to the ground behind her. Her blonde curls fell loose around her face and shoulders, her pinstriped blazer matching her skirt was open and her white shirt was unbuttoned enough to reveal a good dose of milky white cleavage. Her brilliant red lips curled into a smile that made me want to blush, and I could feel my cheeks burn in response.

"Come over to me, my love." She said, and I found myself taking a slow step forward while she did the same, her heels clicking on the floor loudly. She pulled off one long black glove with her teeth, red lips curled into a playful snarl, never dropping her eye contact, and then she curled a red painted nail, motioning for me to come to her. I felt like I should run but my body would not meet my requirement, instead it felt like I was trying to walk through molasses.

Then the whole world exploded into noise and colour and we were no longer alone. Hands were grabbing at me and steam billowed in the air casting a strange grey light. I was hustled onto the train and all but thrown into a seat where I tried to gather my thoughts and compose myself. The motion of the train was very comforting to me, and I let me head loll to one side as the other two sat in silence, occasionally casting a weary eye in my direction. I still felt strange. My muscles were heavy, as if I had swam a marathon, and my head was fuzzy. Then Harker looked me in the eye.

"That was a very stupid thing to do." He scalded me. I held out my hands and shrugged my shoulders. "I told you not to make eye contact. She will get into your head at any opportunity, and trust me, the last thing you need is that viper in your head. She'll trap you and then that'll be that. I might not be able to save you the next time."

I just nodded. There was nothing else I could do. I was so tired I could feel my eyelids drooping. The rising sun was struggling to penetrate and slowly but surely I could feel darkness creeping in. Gently I drifted away, no longer aware of the quiet conversation.

I was standing in a corridor, dark green walls and heavy mahogany woodwork surrounded me. A wall light flickered in the distance. I turned and saw the corridor stretch out behind me in the exact same way as it did in front of me. I walked forward, looking at the doors around me. The numbers were blurred. They did not matter. The dim light seemed to fade into a black rectangle in the distance. I approached the flickering light which was opposite a door. The door was number 592. The brass numbers gleaming faintly in the dim light. I reached out for the shiny brass door handle and pushed gently, moving forward as the door opened. Inside it was daylight. In fact it wasn't even outside anymore. It was a green field, lush and sparkling with morning dew. Some trees in the distance rustled in the slight breeze and I continued to walk forward, never thinking to look back.

Up ahead of me I could see a girl sitting on a chequered blanket, a basket along side her. She had her back to me, but it was fairly obvious in my mind that it was Bella, from her long dark hair to her casual clothing. As I approached she turned, looking up at me. Her face was different, older and more pale. Her eyes burned red and her expression was cold, as though she didn't know me. She lifted the lid on the basket and a blinding light spewed from within. I was still rubbing my eyes when I regained my vision, seeing I was in a hotel room, the green walls and mahogany finishings gave that much away. There, on the bed, sat the woman. Her blonde hair fell in ringlets around her shoulders and her ruby lips were parted slightly. She was dressed the same, fur coat, skirt, but she shrugged off the coat and beckoned me to her. I obliged, taking her hand in mine and slipping the other hand behind her head, pulling her to me and crushing her lips passionately with my own. Her hands were behind me, pulling at my belt, loosening my pants and pulling them to the floor. Then she pulled away and shrugged out of her skirt and blouse, revealing her black underwear, heaving bosom, thighs milky white above the stocking tops. She lay back and winked, pouting and beckoning me once more. I began to climb onto the bed when I noticed another picnic basket, right there on the night stand. It fell to the floor and opened spilling warm light through the room until all was white.

Woah. Ok, there was no possibility I could tell them about that. Had she gotten in my head or not? I hoped not. I opened my eyes to a bright light, the sun flooding in through the window. I could feel a tightness around my groin, and was embarrassed to look down and see I was straining at my pants. I hoped they wouldn't notice. They didn't. They were both staring out the window, watching the countryside roll past. "Where are we?" I finally asked.

"About an hour out of Milwaukee." Bella said softly. "You slept for quite a while there. Nice dream?"

"I... Uh..." I stammered, trying to compose myself. I noticed her glance down and grin a shy grin. My cheeks burned and I could see her colour up too. I was just glad that Harker was too engrossed in the countryside to pay attention.

"Your country is beautiful, you know?" He said, wistfully.

I just looked over at Bella and grinned. She smiled back, stifling a giggle. Suddenly I felt good. Rested and strong. Bella and I chatted softly as we rolled along, nothing world changing, or even noteworthy, just teenage babble. Occasionally Harker would ask us a question about the future, and we would try to explain things. I think I gave myself a slight problem when I mentioned a certain popular piece of tech.

"What phone have you got now Bells?" I asked. Harker looked at me quizzically.

"Do you mean telephone? There is more then one kind in the future?" Harker sounded puzzled.

"Sure." Said Bella. "Almost everyone has a cellphone in our time."

"A... Cell... Phone?"

"Yeah." I sighed. "The whole phone thing, whew, it kinda took off there. Now you can stick your phone in your pocket and take it anywhere." I started to dig into my bag.

"To start with it was only rich douche bags." Bella continued, giggling when he made a face at yet another foreign word. "But then they made it more and more affordable. Some people can't function without one."

I finally pulled mine out of my bag. It was by no means a good one, but it would do. I hit the power button and it sparked into life, making his eyes go wide like dinner plates. "With this thing you can watch TV, catch up on world news, navigate, you name it bro." I handed it to him and he stared in wonder, touching the screen and flinching when it responded.

"I would very much like to live in your time." He said softly, the awe in his voice was incredible. It made me appreciate what we took for granted daily. In fact this entire trip had been having that effect on me. He handed it back to me. "Better put it away though, we shall soon reach our station."

Soon enough the train slowed and pulled into Milwaukee station. The sun was out but it was being surrounded by cloud. I hoped that would be enough. Quite why they hadn't just stormed the train yet I did not know. We stepped out onto the platform and I felt the early afternoon sun on my face. It was a pleasant day and it made the trip seem that bit easier. What did not have quite the same effect was the pair of figures lurking in the archway of the building. "So much for visiting the bathroom." I cracked. We were going to have to just wait out here, but lucky for us it was not a long wait. They were around fifty yards away, and I made sure to keep them in my peripheral vision. As enjoyable as my dream had been on a personal level, I didn't really feel it wise to tempt fate.

"Try to ignore them Jacob." Said Harker out of the corner of his mouth. "Isabella, her powers seem to have no effect on you, yes?" I nodded. "What are they doing?"

She stammered for a moment, thinking. "They're just kinda, um, standing there staring at us. I think she's trying to get in my head." Another moment of silence. "She seems frustrated, and so does he."

"That's both good and bad. We have an advantage, but she will want to gain some kind of payback." Harker sounded serious. "Anyway, it will not be a problem for now, here is our salvation once more."

He was right, the train was pulling in, slowly moving along the platform. As we climbed aboard we heard his voice, clear and harsh, ringing through the afternoon air. "They have night time in Chicago, you know."

Oh great.