Her lips were soft and warm against mine. My stomach turned sour as memories swamped me.
This wasn’t the first life in which I’d kissed a girl. There’d been so many dreams since the start of the school year. In each dream, I starred as the leading lady. I felt what she felt, saw what she saw—her, but not her. After a while, I began to notice similarities. The dreams themselves didn’t repeat, but it often felt like I dreamt of the same person even though their appearances changed from one dream to the next. Each time I closed my eyes and dreamed, I had a unique ability. In all the dreams so far, there had been six distinct abilities… six unique women. Learning about them and what they could do was by far the most interesting portion of the dream. If only the dreams ended there. The appearance of the beasts and what they did made me shudder. But worse still were all the deaths I experienced.
Dani misunderstood my shudder and lifted a hand to my cheek as she kissed me sweetly in return. After counting to four in my head, I pulled back hoping it’d been enough.
The dream kiss had been just as chaste. But it’d felt different. I’d been saying goodbye to someone I loved dearly. Maybe a sister or best friend. The girl in my dream hadn’t spoken. She’d simply turned and calmly pushed through the fleeing crowd, people running from the beasts who screamed in their guttural voices for me to step forward. In that dream, my life had been spared… for a while. Hers had been taken.
“Kay. I’ll get you what you need.” She walked away leaving me standing with Cadence.
My hot, gritty eyes tracked her progress. How could I feel this tired after sleeping twelve hours? My life hadn’t been like this for long. After the first dream almost three months ago, I’d slept fine for several nights before figuring out the dreams were skipping nights here and there. On the nights I had those dreams, I woke as tired as I’d been when I went to bed. Too soon, I started having them every night. Sometimes several dreams a night if I managed to fall back to sleep. So many dreams. But, I’d learned something.
Without a doubt, each dream played a scene from a past life, an echo of memory. The surety that I was remembering, and not just dreaming made me doubt my sanity. Some thing throughout history continued to hunt me… and others like me. Yeah, I wasn’t alone. Sometimes the women looked similar to how I appeared now. Sometimes I wasn’t me, but a completely different person, one of the other five. Often names repeated in different lifetimes, or we had family members with the same names. But, it was the lingering details of the life after waking that convinced me they were surfacing memories and not just random dreams.
Usually I died young, unaware of the danger. Sometimes, the dreams came and helped me to prepare. To run. Either way, I never lasted long. They could track me by my scent. Back then, though, there hadn’t been cars or other ways to travel fast. I hoped this time would be different. I had no doubt… they would come. But maybe I could finally out run them.
I closed my eyes for a second to relieve the hot sting. They stayed closed and wouldn’t open no matter how hard I tried. My legs felt weak, and I knew I’d crumple to the ground any moment. In a distant part of my mind, a dream gathered, an angry storm of memories, swirling and gaining speed.
Cadence’s voice and rough hold pulled me back from the brink of sleep.
“Geez, Bethi. Get a grip. People are staring.”
Paranoia fueled an adrenaline spike. My eyes popped open. My knees kept shaking, but no longer from sleep. Flight or fight mode. I was ready to fly. Controlling my breathing and relaxing my shoulders, I glanced around. A security guard watched me. My relief sprouted a genuine smile on my face. The woman looked confused for a moment, then shook her head and turned away. I could only imagine what she thought of my odd behavior.
“Thanks,” I mumbled to Cadence, thinking of the adrenaline rush. Maybe that was the way to go. I fingered the scars on my arms. Pain, though effective, was a pointless method to stay awake. After all, it was the pain in my dreams I wanted to avoid.
Adrenaline might be the answer. I’d watched myself and others do amazing things in my dreams because of it. Although, there were times it didn’t work. The phrase “flight or fight” should really be “flight, fight, or freeze.” So many times the surrealism of the situation shuts down a person’s brain even though the body is pumped full of that magic juice.
Fingers waggled in front of my eyes, and I realized I’d been drifting in my own thoughts. Dani stood in front of me with an amused smile, one that didn’t reach her eyes.
“I got you some caffeine pills and a Monster, but rent-a-cop over there is watching us. So how about you tell us what’s got you so messed up. And don’t say no sleep, we got that.”
Dani’s eyes pulled me in, encouraging me to let someone help. I’d tried talking to my mom about the dreams, but her answer had been to try sleeping pills. She didn’t really hear the problem within my dreams even though she listened to my whole explanation. Since I already questioned my sanity, I hadn’t wanted her to start questioning it too so I let it drop. Last thing I wanted was a padded room and an IV cocktail. No, better keep my crazies to myself.
“Haunting memories. Let’s leave it at that,” I said with a smile I didn’t feel. We were getting too serious, and I needed to break the mood somehow or pretty soon Dani wouldn’t be so willing to help me. Not even for a kiss.
Cadence cleared her throat. “Hottie approaching.”
Before I could turn to look, I felt a light tap on my shoulder.
“Pardon, do you know where the loo is?”
Loo? I turned to look over the owner of the clipped British accent. Holy, hotness. Shock and awe filled me. My heart stuttered out a beat as my mind went blank. It did that a lot lately.
The man stood well over six feet. Lean and long, his shoulders filled out his worn, brown leather jacket. The mall lights glinted off his bronzed, mussed hair and highlighted the amused twinkle in his hazel eyes. Eyes a girl could lose herself in. Why couldn’t I have kissed him instead of Dani? The wayward thought bounced around in my head for a moment as I stared at his dark brown lashes and tried not to sigh. Or drool. I reined myself in not wanting to hurt Dani’s feelings. She still had what I needed. I blinked at him while trying to think. His lips twitched as he waited for me. His gaze skimmed me, not settling anywhere, just taking me in the same as I was doing to him.
A sense of familiarity settled over me, and my stomach did a weird little flip. I tried to study him with indifference. Was this someone I knew but my sleep deprived brain had forgotten? Embarrassing.
I closed my mouth, swallowed hard, hoped I wouldn’t blush, and tried for cool-sarcastic, “Oh my God, an accent. Take me, I’m yours.”
Dani and Cadence sniggered. I curved my lips in a smile as I waited for him to go away. I just wanted to get my stuff and leave.
Something in the man’s expression changed. He tilted his head and took a slow deep breath. I thought for a moment he had a witty reply or would say something rude. Instead, he leaned toward me, his eyes locked on mine, and murmured, “You smell amazing.”
My insides froze and, for the second time in five minutes, adrenaline spiked through my veins. He pulled back, his intense gaze never leaving mine. I struggled to contain my panic and to think clearly. I did not smell amazing.
His pupils dilated as he continued to watch me. A smile tugged at his lips.
A small sound escaped me somewhere between a whimper and a throat clearing. Dani moved beside me. I knew she was trying to figure out my reaction, but I couldn’t spare her more than a passing thought.
He caught the noise. Awareness crept into his eyes almost as if he’d emerged from a trance. His smile faded, and he began to look troubled. It didn’t matter. I’d witnessed that concentrated look before and knew what he meant, what he was.
I didn’t want to die, but all those dreams had prepared me for what would come next. Dani and Cadence needed to get out of range. Now. Memories of blood and carnage, of the gory ending of past lives, flitted around in my mind. My heart tripled its rhythm at the remembered pain.
“I need a minute,” I said to Dani and Cadence. My voice remained calm and steady. Weary acceptance filled my lungs and radiated throughout me.
They nodded and moved a few feet away. I glanced at the rent-a-cop. Her attention once again rested on me. I knew better than to try calling for her help but still felt a small glimmer of hope. Maybe I was safe. Maybe the crowd was enough.
He watched me expectantly, his eyes causing my stomach to do erratic flips of joy. One of their kind always called to me like that. Messing with my insides, my emotions, pulling me to them like a moth to a flame. Just like the poor winged creature, it never ended well for me.
“I do not smell amazing,” I said softly, trying to keep anyone from overhearing. “I smell like I need a shower. Badly.”
He frowned, held up his hands in a placating manner, and said, “No offense, luv. I’m just looking for the loo.”
I stared at him for a moment, the wild beat of my heart pounding in my ears as I tried to decide what game he played. Barely lifting my hand, I pointed to the right near the rent-a-cop wondering how long he’d keep up the pretense.
He nodded his thanks, but didn’t move. He hesitated. His eyes swept my face. He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say more. Instead, he jammed his hands into his pockets and walked away.
Stunned, I watched him leave. My mind tried to keep up with what my eyes processed. One of them was walking away from me. What did it mean? It meant I wasn’t dead. Yet. I knew what I needed to do. Wait… wait for it. He kept walking away. I felt Dani join me as my eyes remained riveted on the man. He didn’t glance back, not once, before rounding the corner to the bathrooms.
“Don’t come back here,” I whispered to Dani.
Then, I ran.