Kane heard his brother and his lifemate whispering right above him. They were a bit worried about his still sleepy state.
But he has already woken up. It was just that his mind was in a bit of turmoil concerning the dream he had just had.
A dream that when he had woken up, had his heart pounding so fast, with bloodred tears streaking his face and grief overwhelming him.
He replayed the dream in his mind again.
The Dream ( in present tense):
A woman’s despairing cry echoed in his soul, tearing at him, reprimanding him, drawing him back from the edge of a great precipice. And he was starving. Every cell in his body craved blood. He was somewhere, underground. The hunger raked at him with merciless claws until a red haze covered his sight and his pulse hammered with the need for immediate sustenance. Desperate, he scanned the area above his resting place for the presence of enemies and, finding none, burst through the rich layers of soil, into the air, his heart thundering in his ears, his mind screaming. He landed in a crouch in the midst of dense shrubbery and thick vegetation, and took a slow, careful look around him.
For a moment everything was wrong-monkeys shrieking, birds calling out a warning, the cough of a larger predator, even the brush of lizards through vegetation. He wasn’t supposed to be here. The rain forest. Home. He shook his head, trying to clear his fragmented mind. The last thing he remembered clearly was stepping in front of his pregnant in law, shielding mother and unborn child from a killer.
Waves of weakness rocked him. He found himself on his hands and knees, his belly in hard knots and his insides heaving. Fire burned through his system like molten poison. Disease didn’t plague the his race. He couldn’t have become ill with a human disease. This was manufactured by an enemy.
Who did this to me? His white teeth snapped together in a show of aggression, his incisors and canines sharp and lethal as he glared fiercely around him. How had he gotten here? Kneeling in the fertile soil, he tried to sort through what he did know. Another jolt of blinding pain lashed at his temples, blackening the edges of his vision. He covered his eyes to try to block out the shooting stars coming at him like missiles, but closing his eyes worsened the effect.
“I am Kane,” he murmured aloud, trying to force his brain to work… to remember… pushing the words through teeth clenched tightly together in a grimace.
“I have a twin, and he would not leave me if he knew I had need of him.”
He pushed past the pain to try to uncover the truth. Why was he in the rain forest when he should have been in Dobah’s place? Why had he been abandoned by his brother? He shook his head in denial, although it cost him dearly, as the pain increased, spikes seeming to stab through his skull. He shivered as the shadows crept closer, ringing him, taking shapes. Leaves rustled and the bushes shifted, as if touched by unseen hands. Lizards darted out from under the rotting vegetation and raced away as if frightened. He pulled back and once again looked warily around him, this time scanning above and below ground, quartering the region thoroughly.
There were shadows only, nothing flesh and blood to indicate an enemy close. He had to get a hold of himself and figure out what was happening before the trap was sprung-and he was certain there was a trap and he was close to being truly caught. Throughout his time hunting the vampire, he had been wounded and poisoned on many occasions, but still he’d survived because he’d always used his brain. He was cunning and shrewd and very intelligent. No vampire or mage would best him, sick or not. If he was hallucinating, he had to find a way out of the spell to protect himself. Shadows moved in his mind, dark and evil. He looked around him at the growth of the jungle, and instead of seeing a welcoming home, he saw the same shadows moving-reaching-trying to grasp him with greedy claws.
Things moved, banshees wailed, unfamiliar creatures gathered in the bushes and along the ground. It made no sense, not for one of his kind. The night should have welcomed him-soothed him. Enfolded him in its rich blanket of peace. The night had always belonged to him-to his kind. Information should have flooded him with each breath he took into his body, but instead his mind played tricks, saw things that couldn’t be there. He could hear a dark symphony of voices calling to him, the sounds swelling in volume until his head pounded with moans and pitiful cries. Bony fingers brushed at his skin, spider legs crawled over him so that he twisted left and right, flailing his arms, slapping at his chest and back, brushing vigorously in an effort to dislodge the invisible webs that seemed to stick to his skin. He shuddered again and forced air through his lungs.
He had to be hallucinating, caught in the trap of a master vampire. If that was the case, he couldn’t call on his brother for aid until he knew if he was bait to draw them into the web as well. He gripped his head hard and forced his mind to calm. He would remember. He was an ancient sent out by the former Prince to hunt the vampire. But his son, Aiden’s friend, had, centuries since, taken over guiding their people.
Once again he risked a look at his surroundings. His stomach lurched as the brilliant colors dazzled him, hurting his head and making him sick. After centuries of seeing in black-and-white with shades of gray, now the surrounding jungle held violent color, hues of vivid greens, a riot of colored flowers spilling down tree trunks along with creeper vines. His head pounded and his eyes burned. Drops of blood leaked like tears, trailing down his face as he squinted to try to control the sensation of pitching and rolling as he viewed the rain forest. Emotions poured in. He tasted fear, something he hadn’t known since he’d been a boy.