In Her Dreams by Bolryder, Terry (the reader ebook .txt) 📕

to defend me, I thought it was just something dream fae said to each other.

But watching him now, I realize with fear that he meant every word.

If only I could access my whip and save him too.

“Very bold of you, dream warrior. You must be confident in your chances of winning.” The voice I hear coming from Adam is no longer fully human. It’s like Adam’s words are superimposed with something deeper, harsher, unearthly, that echoes around me like the rumble of an approaching storm.

“What are you, foul creature?”

“Cauchemar. At least that’s what the queen of the fifth kingdom named me before I was banished to this world.” Aside from what little is left of his own armor, I can see through the tatters of his shirt to more dark areas on his back and chest that look like patches of empty space where there are no stars.

He laughs darkly and narrows his gaze on Reve. “Little did they know they were letting the wolf out to roam among the sheep, and I’ve enjoyed my time here amongst these weak, petty creatures, growing stronger and stronger.”

“Not anymore, you won’t.” Reve readies his whip, and Adam does the same.

In the same moment, they both swing, and their whips collide with a bright flash of teal and purple, which explodes out from the center of the street. For a moment, I don’t even know what’s happened until I hear a scream that isn’t Reve’s.

“Augh!” The nightmare screams as his whip breaks into hundreds of metallic fragments as he’s thrown onto his back by the blast. There’s little left of his human disguise now, and deep purple-red eyes like black holes have replaced what were once human.

Reve strides forward, and I get up, wanting to run to him, hoping it’s all over when I suddenly feel dark tendrils come up out of the ground that wrap around my legs and arms and around Joey too.

Joey wakes up just in time to see the dark, see-through tentacles wrapping around him, and I hold on to him with all my might, but it’s no use as he’s ripped away from me, both of us hovering twenty feet above the ground.

“Mom!”

“Joey!” I reach for him, but it’s no use. Beneath us, I see the nightmare get back on his feet, cackling as Reve’s gaze moves from me to my son then back to me.

“I might not have my whip, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to lose to you, dream warrior.”

Reve raises his whip, but Cauchemar waggles a finger. “Hurt me, and you’ll get to watch me suck the life out of both of your loved ones.

“You bastard.”

“I’ve been called much, much worse.” He shrugs. “So save one, sever my hold on the one you want to keep, and I’ll consume the other. Your choice. The love of your life, your dream mate? Or her precious son, the next generation of warriors?”

As if on cue, the tendrils start brightening around me, and I feel faint as if the very air in me is being sucked out of my lungs. But I watch Reve, hoping against hope he’ll be able to do something.

Just save Joey, I call to Reve with my heart.

Instead, I see Reve’s wings retract into his back, leaving him surprisingly human-looking except for the glowing whip still in his hand.

Then, with a shout, I watch as Reve somehow pulls a second whip from behind him, just as bright and glowing as the first. His chest and arms flex as he raises both in unison, and with two snaps that crack in ear-splitting precision, he slices through the dark energy beneath me and Joey at the same time while the nightmare watches with utter shock.

The energy around me dissipates, and air rushes into my lungs just as I feel the ground fall out from beneath me. I barely hear the snap of Reve’s fingers as a gigantic pile of pillows materializes beneath me, catching my fall before I hit the ground.

As soon as I can, I look over to see Joey is safe too, emerging from a loose jumble of pillows as well.

“No, no, NO!” the nightmare screams just as Reve begins to use both whips on the monster in rapid succession. The air rings with cracks and the zap of electricity as lash after lash strikes Cauchemar, stripping away skin and armor until he’s just a shuddering, nebulous form that’s the color of space but the shape of a man, cringing away from Reve who advances mercilessly.

Behind me, I feel a whoosh of air, and I hear steps as Jerrek and the others rush in beside me. Thirty feet away, Joey is getting onto his feet, and I’m already trying to get back up on shaky legs to reach him.

“Good-bye, nightmare.” Reve’s voice is dark, serious.

“You may think you’ve won, but I am timeless. Immortal. I will not be beaten by the likes of you,” the nightmare says.

I’m only thinking of wrapping my arms around my son and getting back to Reve when I watch him raise his whip one last time. But then, like a blink of an eye, Cauchemar disappears from beneath Reve.

And as I watch with terror, he appears behind my son.

He wraps an arm around Joey, picking him up easily as a swirling black circle appears behind him, whirling with energy and making a horrible tornado-like sound.

“Until next time, dreamer,” the nightmare says over his shoulder at Reve, then disappears into the blackness.

My heart falls in my chest as I make for the hole, which is getting smaller and smaller by the second. Ahead of me, Reve is charging forward, and there’s only time for him to look over his shoulder at me and mouth the words I love you before he, too, disappears.

I keep running, but suddenly I’m held back by two pairs of arms much stronger than me.

“Let me go! I need to go after them!” I yell at Lorien and Jerrek.

“You can’t go there. No human or