That night, I dreamed of demons.
The game I’d played since I was a kid was suddenly real, and I was thrust into a barren cityscape, alone with only a demon blade at my side. Every door I tried was locked, and every alley threatened to swallow me in darkness.
My shoes echoed on the pavement, thumping like a beating heart. I was supposed to be the hunter, but as I wandered deeper and the shadows closed in I realized I was the prey. Running harder, I turned down a well-lit street. My body shook as I shifted in a slow circle.
Someone was watching.
Waiting.
Gravel crunched beneath the soles of my shoes, and a door creaked open. A cold sweat broke out on my neck. The presence behind me drew closer. Sounds I shouldn’t be able to hear reverberated in my ears. A shuffle of footsteps. The drip of blood hitting concrete. A heavy breath.
I spun and faced the monster. His craggy face loomed in front of me. Lifting a bloody hand, he reached out, clawing the air. A deep scar bisected his palm.
His gruesome lips moved. The words floated away on the breeze. I tried to catch them, leaning closer even though every bone in my body told me to run.
He spoke again, low and chilling.
“Morning, sunshine.”
My eyes sprang open. I sucked in a sharp breath, and instead of the stale taste of iron, I smelled cinnamon.
Caden sat on the edge of my bed, a paper bag clutched between his fingers. His hair was still damp from a shower. Beneath his brown leather jacket was a black T-shirt. Black pants and black boots continued the dark-colored look.
“Are you all right?” he asked, gaze narrowing in concern.
The lingering fear drained from my body as my mind took in my surroundings.
“Yeah, I’m fine. It was just a nightmare.”
“What about?”
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and feigned ignorance. “Now that I’m awake, I can hardly remember. I was probably just running late for class and showed up in my underwear.”
He grinned. “Graves, you and I have very different definitions of a nightmare.”
My cheeks heated from his teasing look. I poked him in the arm. “Stop thinking about me in my underwear.”
“Too late. But I’ll try.” He laughed and shook the contents of the bag. “I picked up breakfast from the bakery on the corner. There’s coffee too, and I grabbed a biscuit for Loki.”
I glanced at the floor, and sure enough, Loki sat gnawing on a long biscuit. Somehow, Caden had cast a spell to make the object ghostlike, and Loki sank his teeth into the treat. I made a note to have him teach me how to do that.
Scooting my pillow back, I sat up and eyed the bag as if it might bite. “Who are you, and what did you do to my partner?”
His grin turned playful as he pulled a cinnamon bun from the bag and sank his teeth into the pastry. “What, you won’t take food from a pod person? That’s okay—I can eat yours too. I’m not touching the coffee though. I got you that pumpkin flavor you like. It’s disgusting.”
I reached for my nightstand, where two Styrofoam cups rested in a cardboard holder. Bringing the pumpkin goodness closer, I breathed in the fall flavor. The horrible dream was already fading from my mind.
Funny how the anticipation of warm cinnamon dough and caffeine could banish evil in a snap. Maybe we had the wrong idea with spells and blades. We should fight demons with sugar.
“Is this to pay me back for all the ramen you’ve eaten?” I accepted the warm bun, our fingers colliding in a sticky mess.
“Yes, and for allowing me to sleep on your floor. I’ll post my Yelp review later. Five stars, though the pillow situation could be improved. But the view . . .” He waggled his eyebrows at the witty one-liner on my T-shirt. “Top notch.”
I stifled a laugh. “You’re lucky I have my hands full, or you’d be a dead man.”
“Yeah, well, I’ll be out of your hair starting today. The utilities are getting hooked up at the manor, and I’ll make it work until I can get the place fixed up.”
“Oh.” I took a deep sip from my coffee to hide my disappointment. The hot liquid burned the roof of my mouth. It had only been a week, but I’d gotten used to Caden sharing my room. We’d grown closer than I’d thought we would. Maybe Oscar’s theory on team building was accurate after all.
