Chapter 208: The Nightmare Continued
- RORY -
In sleep, I fall right back into the dark forest where Luciano took all of those insidious, horrible demons, and my feelings slide right back into place. The terror coats every inch of my skin when I realize I’m back in the dream—stuck here now until I wake.
I can still feel them around us—the weight of the darkness in the shadows. Luciano is crumpled on the ground a few yards in front of me. At least, I think it’s him. Who else would it be?
"Luci," I call out, swallowing against the thickness in my throat.
My throat is coated with fear, too. Every part of me is. It’s lodged deep in my stomach like a boulder, turning over itself and ready to heave up whatever contents are there within it. But it’s not fear for myself or for what dangers might await me. For once, it’s fear for someone else.
Luciano doesn’t respond, so I try again.
"Luciano!" My voice is a rasp at the end, making this desperation I feel so obvious. I need him to hear me. I need him to answer.
Despite the pitch of night that seems to only close in on the clearing with Luci’s fading light at the center, I take a few steps forward. My scuffling feet scrape against dry brush underneath and a bitter wind curls around my shoulders, trying to keep me back. Mocking me for wanting to check on him.
For a few moments, it works. And I stop. Angry tears slide hot against my face with the thought of this man taking something painful of mine and being a martyr for no reason. I can handle those demons just fine! I don’t need anyone else to take them from me! Obviously I am the only one who can house them, because he isn’t moving. He isn’t even budging. Then again, they were smaller when they were mine. The ones that invaded him were so much larger...
A whisper of wicked laughter tickles my neck, and I whirl around to face what I realize is the faceless threat. I pull Luciano’s knife from my pocket, the blade out and ready to slice through anything with flesh. But that’s not the kind of threat that haunts these dark woods.
"Leave him alone," I growl through teeth clenched so hard that my jaw hurts. "You’re mine. Not his."
But nothing responds. The laughter is gone. It is only the cold wind and my own heart roaring in my ears until I hear the faintest noise from behind me.
When I turn to see what it is, prepared with the knife in my hand, Luciano is pushing himself up from the ground. With a groan, he reaches a sitting position—one arm curled around his chest like he’s in pain.
I drop the knife with a gasp and push past the wind, sliding onto the ground in front of him and taking his face in my hands. I can feel him. He’s the only thing that seems truly real in this dream. Everything else is like the ghostly manifestation of nightmares, but he’s warm and solid and when he looks at me with that burning warmth in his eyes, I notice it has not dimmed at all from what I remember.
"Are you okay?" I ask, more tears sliding down my face. "Don’t do that. It’s not your job. You don’t get to take these things that belong to me, Luciano!"
"Don’t I?" Despite the pain he still seems to be in, he smiles ruefully. It’s sexy, and I hate it. How is he even sexy in a nightmare?
I press my forehead against his, so exasperated by how stubborn he is and the worry it’s causing me. He sighs when I do, letting himself melt into the touch. Letting the walls fall down around him.
"You’re impossible," I whisper, shaking my head with a whimper, lips still trembling.
"I know, dolcezza." He reaches up to touch my arm. "But that’s why I’m yours. Don’t worry about it."
"But it hurts, doesn’t it?" I cry. "I know that pain. I’ve lived with it, too."
"It doesn’t hurt when you’re here. Just stay with me. That’s the key, isn’t it? To not be alone?"
I shake my head, denying that there could be any reason at all why he would need to take all of that darkness—all those demons that were mine—or that there could be anything that makes it okay. It’s not okay.
"It’s worth it, because you give me something else, too," he adds, trying to make me understand.
"What?" I ask—two questions with one word. What did he say and what could I possibly give him that makes this less painful?
"You don’t know what you give me besides this?" He smirks—always the joker.
I don’t even know him that well in truth, do I? But somehow I do. His spirit is plainly here for me to see. And I know that he will make light of whatever heaviness surrounds us if it’s for my benefit.
"No," I tell him honestly. I don’t know. "What do I give you?"
He chuckles—a sound so natural that it contrasts starkly with our surroundings. Then his warm eyes drop to my lips. Just that small movement—just that one look—and heat blooms from my center, driving away all vestiges of the cold. The wind around us stops, and it becomes quiet and peaceful. So peaceful that I can hear our breaths mingling. I can feel his breath feathering across my face.
I wet my lips, taking his hands in mine and pushing myself back to look around. It’s still dark. The forest we’re in still holds dangers. But something important has changed. We’re together.
"How?" I ask, looking down at our hands and then up at the kindling of his eyes.
"We’re stronger together, dolcezza. It’s not that big of a mystery."
"But I’m a danger to you," I gulp, feeling the lump of that truth that hovers in my throat. There’s no denying that. And I can’t live with being a danger to anyone.
"That you think you’re the danger only proves how perfect we are for each other," he chuckles, intertwining our fingers and tugging me playfully.
"I don’t think you’re dangerous," I tell him. "Not compared to this."
He sighs again, and his gaze drops.
"I wish that were true, Lorelei. It’s not. But I’m too selfish to stay away from you. I do promise to protect you from it though." His eyes climb back to mine. "And to keep the best of myself for only you."
