The Dream Thief Read online

  His breathing picked up as he felt the heat roll off her body. Images of her naked spread out on his kitchen table filled his mind. The damn ache grew. If his body could have responded, he would’ve been on fire. Instead, it pushed and pulled inside him, like steam with no exit, filling up the empty places inside him, making him feel swollen. “No half-truths. How about this? I want you, and...” He licked his lips as his eyes ran down the length of her—over her supple breasts to the tiny waist and the jeans which did nothing to hide long, toned legs. “I can’t have you.”

  Her breathing turned ragged as her scent changed: arousal mixed with nerves and a bittersweet musky scent. “Yes, you can.” She met his gaze, pulling him to her.

  Their mouths locked, and like the day he left for Rome, such a short time ago, time stopped. He was a man drowning, and she became the fresh air. He breathed her in, wanting to take as much as she would give. She moaned, and her mouth opened. Their need for each other exploded from soft exploration to desperate need. He left her mouth to kiss along the soft line of her jaw, and then he moved to where her neck met her shoulder. The sounds coming from her lips excited him, making him ache in places he didn’t have, like a phantom limb. He shifted to the other side of her neck, tasting there, but that wasn’t enough. Nothing with Debbie would ever be enough, but denying himself any pleasure for most of his long life seemed like such a waste now. As he swept her off her feet and kissed her mouth again, her tongue caressing his, he realized it wasn’t a waste. It had been a wait for her. She was finally here with him, and damn it, if the end was coming, he would take whatever he could in this life.

  Up the stairs and into his bedroom, he sat her on her feet by the edge of his bed. He pulled away to stare at her eyes, and her pupils dilated wide, mouth bruised and swollen from their kissing. She said nothing, only urging him with her eyes, asking for more. He slid the red sweater over her head. Her milky white skin dazzled him, like the cream he could never have. Running kisses along her arms and into the crook of her arm and wrist, he did the same with the other, then spun her around as she shivered underneath his skimming touch. He inhaled the scent of her hair as his hands undid her bra, slipping it down her shoulders, slowly, letting the fabric tease her as much as he did. Each time she shuddered, it filled him with delight. He led her to the bed and laid her down. She said nothing, staring at him, waiting, shivering with a mix of fear and excitement.

  He whispered, “I won’t hurt you.”

  “I know,” she said, and that small statement, that admission of complete trust, undid him. He fell on top of her, continuing his exploration of her body: first, her breasts, the little buds that hardened under his touch. He removed one shoe and sock and then the other, sucking each toe, before unbuttoning her jeans and sliding them down over her legs. He worked over her legs, kissing, biting, tasting, and she moaned and squirmed. Her smell changed from the sweet floral of her perfumes and incense to the raw, sensual smell of a woman. She was ready for him: hot, wet, and waiting.

  With fingertips alone, he hooked the top of her panties, inching them down her legs, over her knees, and onto the floor. His gaze swept the length of her from her long hair flowing out from the pillow to her silky skin. All was lay bare before him. “You’re beautiful.”

  She sat up and pulled his shirt from him. He let her, but when she reached for the button on his jeans, he stopped her hands and laid her back. He didn’t want her touching the dried blood nor to find out the worst secret of all. She didn’t fight him as he spread her legs, lowering his mouth to her. He tasted her sweet wetness at last. She gasped, driving him to taste her again and again. Within minutes she exploded, but he wasn’t done with her. Over and over he made her climax in the only way he could, with tongue and mouth and fingers. After the third time, she curled into a ball. “Stop. I can’t. I can’t take anymore.” Her body shimmered in the dew of her sweat. Her eyelids were heavy as her body fought sleep. The small pout of her bottom lip bothered him, and she murmured before drifting off, “I wanted to please you too.”

  He slid off his soiled jeans, curled up behind her, and held her as she drifted off to sleep. As she let out a soft snore, he murmured into her ear, “You’ve already pleased me.”

  17

  Debbie slept curled in his arms, and Malcolm never wanted to move again. But she would wake soon, and she still hadn’t eaten. Slipping out of bed, he covered her up, and pulled his shirt back on and grabbed a clean pair of jeans, tossing the old ones in the trash. She had never looked more beautiful, curled in his bed with her long brown hair swept over his pillow. Her mouth was still swollen from his kisses, and she breathed softly. The room smelled like her, and he wanted to wake her and please her again.

  His cell buzzed in his pants pocket, breaking the spell. He took one last look and snuck out of the bedroom, shutting the door behind him with a barely audible click.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  Aelia’s voice pierced loud in the silence of his loft, “Finally you answer the phone.”

  “Been busy. Any news on Caelieus?”

  “Ehh, a few leads, but nothing definite yet. What about you? What's going on?”

  A chill hung in the air of his loft since it’d been empty for a while. He flipped on light switches and adjusted the thermostat while he updated Aelia.

  She remained silent for a long time. “Do you think it wise to involve a human in your plan?”

  “You have a better idea?”

  “Yes. I could send Halek or Zari, or anyone else to fill in. This is our job. You shouldn’t get too close with humans.”

  “Everyone else is already living their own lives. She’s already here.”

  “You told her, didn’t you?” The disappointment in her voice rolled over him. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was the Librarian or his friend.

  Malcolm couldn’t bring himself to admit it. He wasn’t the only dream thief that had tried to live out a normal human life.

  “Damn it, Gabriel! This isn’t like it was in the old days. Hell, it isn’t what it was fifty years ago. With today’s technology, you risk us all.”

  “There is no rule against it.” He curled his free hand in a fist, controlled the volume and pitch of his voice. “You yourself have done it, more than once I might add.”

  “Yes and the last time...” Her voice caught. He remembered. Her last lover had gone mad. He was convinced she was the devil trying to steal his soul and send him to hell. He had burned the house they lived in together while she slept. She regenerated, of course, but he died in the flames. She had sent Malcolm in to discover what happened. The local townsfolk deemed the house cursed. She didn’t speak to anyone for thirty years, not until she’d been appointed the newest Librarian. “Being with humans never works out well. No matter how careful you are. Trust me.”

  “Look, I know there is more at risk, but there is also less superstition. I don’t know how it will turn out, but I’m tired of being alone.”

  “You’re tired of being alone? How long have I been stuck here while you all are out there free to move around?”

  “Don’t take that shit out on me. I didn’t assign you as Librarian. For the damn record, yes, we’re free until the alarm comes, then we are zapped away and have to absorb an entire lifetime of events.” His own anger flared hot.

  “Please. I’ve been there and done that, too, but not you. You’ve never been Librarian. You’ve never been an animal trapped in this gilded cage. This life sucks, and it never fucking ends. Believe me, I’ve tried. If we don't do our jobs, then the world goes to shit.”

  “Preaching to the choir.”

  Something in the background broke, and he imagined she threw a glass of coffee or wine, shattering the container on the cave walls of Cos Headquarters. She screamed, wild and angry. Something he’d never heard her do.

  He sighed, all fight going out of him. “I’m sorry, okay? We’ve all told a human our secrets, but I think she can help. If I get over my head,
then I’ll call in reinforcements. I promise.”

  Sobs broke through the line, startling him more than anything had in the last week. “Are you…are you crying?” He had never known her to cry, ever. Not once. Not even after her lover tried to burn her to death. Nothing shook Aelia.

  Sniffling, she asked, “Do you ever think we’re cursed? Like we did something so horrible that we have to pay for it for eternity?”

  He fell into the soft plush couch, shocked to his core. She’d broken the dream thieves’ unspoken code. Except for Obadiah, they no longer tried to speak of their predicament, never speculated on what they were, or how they came to be. There was no answer. They lived day after day, year after year, millennia after millennia, receiving internal alarms. But from whom, none of them knew. Was it a god or gods? Aliens? Or worse yet, no one? Or perhaps they were nothing except a big cosmic fucking joke and had evolved into whatever the fuck they were, living in some eternal wheel they were never able to get off.

  He’d spent decades considering all of this, and he would bet anything that each and every dream thief had as well, but they hadn’t talked to each other about it in a long time. “I’ve thought it, but there are so many new things after all this time. Maybe I have hope that we’ll get some answers, or something.” He didn't want to say it, but thought, perhaps, if the world ended, they would too. They could finally get off the wheel of time, and if he only had mere decades left, he didn’t want to go alone.

  “I want to know why some humans are saved and so many others aren’t. Why aren’t they worth our help?”

  “I wish I knew.”

  The crying Aelia vanished. Balls of steel Aelia said, “You’ve got two weeks to get results. After that, I’ll send someone to eliminate the target.”

  “What?” He sprung from the couch, blood pounding in his ears. “Two weeks? This won’t happen for decades.”

  “Don’t be stupid. Just because the outcome won’t happen for years and years doesn’t mean that the domino that starts it all won’t fall any second. We can’t take any chances. You're lucky I’m giving you two weeks. Now get busy.” The line ended. He stared at the blank phone for a long time, flabbergasted.

  When had everything changed between them? Was it the years she’d spent alone as the Librarian or only recently because of jealousy? His eyes drifted toward the stairs, thinking of Debbie sleeping, and realized he didn’t care. He would focus on stopping Dharma Knight, but not yet. Tonight was about the here and now.

  He searched online for a pizza place on his phone and ordered her favorite. She would be hungry when she woke up. He put thoughts of Stephanie aside and the missed target, and proceeded to the kitchen to start a fresh batch of syrup. He still had to be ready for a new target. With that done, he poured a triple espresso and grabbed the first box. He began to pack the kitchen by pulling cups out of the cabinets and placing them in bubble wrap.

  The bedroom door clicked open, and the sound was followed by creaking stairs and soft footsteps on the hardwood floors. Malcolm continued his packing, letting her come to him. She appeared in the kitchen wearing her red sweater and nothing else. His pulse sped and desire rose in him again as his gaze traveled from her bare feet and up her pale soft legs, remembering his head between them. He forced himself to keep looking up, and he saw her hand covering her mouth, but her eyes burned with desire as if she too remembered earlier tonight, inviting him to come to her again. He stepped toward her, already imagining pulling that sweater over her head, when the doorbell rang.

  He stopped abruptly and wanted to pummel whoever rang the damn bell. Debbie looked alarmed, and squeaked, running farther into the kitchen to hide. The move was so childlike and sweet, it brought a smile to his lips. In a split second, she could go from a sensual woman, ready to be taken again, to cute and innocent. The bell rang again, more incessant this time, and he moved like lightning. He opened the door, handed the pizza boy the money, and took her food to the kitchen counter.

  “Ohhh, thanks,” she said when she realized who’d been at the door. She opened the box, pulled out a slice of pepperoni, and took a huge bite.

  “My pleasure,” he murmured, his voice low and slow like warm honey melting over a biscuit. Her eyes darkened again, and her cheeks flushed.

  She chewed, swallowed, and licked her lips. He wanted to do that. She shook her head. “Slow your roll there, boss man. I’m hungry for food right now.” She clarified when his eyes sparkled at the word “hungry.”

  Malcolm shook his head, clearing his thoughts. You’d have thought he was a teenage boy and not an eons old immortal. “Right. Now is a good time to talk. I don't want you to apply for the manager’s position at Eye of the Beholder.”

  She paused, mouth open, a second slice of pizza in her hand. “Why?”

  “I told you. I need your help.”

  “What do you need me to do?” she asked with her mouth full, making it hard to understand her.

  He sipped his espresso. “You believe me now?”

  She nodded, still eating.

  “About all of it?”

  Another nod.

  “What I haven’t told you is if a dream thief misses a target, then very bad things happen. Like end of the world.”

  She swallowed. “Seriously?”

  He nodded. “I missed part of a target. A big target. And I need you to help me save the world.”

  18

  Debbie stared at him, pizza held in her mouth, then chewed and swallowed. “Weirdest conversation ever. Hey, let’s have pizza. Oh and by the way, we’ve got to save the world.”

  Malcolm laughed, full-bellied, filling the room with the sound, and soon she joined with him. They laughed until tears came to their eyes. “Stop.” She leaned over the counter. “You’re making my side hurt.”

  Their laughter lasted a long time, releasing the tension between them and the sexual heat that still simmered low, like a soft burning fire. The loft echoed laughter, bouncing the sounds over and over again. Never had this place had been so alive. Neither had Malcolm, at least not in a very long time. Their laughter faded.

  “I’m serious,” he said, finally, hating to break the spell.

  While Debbie worked on her third slice of pizza, she tiptoed over to the cabinet, pulled out a glass, and filled it with water from the tap. “Okay. So go ahead, I guess.” Her head shook as if she couldn’t believe that she was going along with this. She pulled up one of the bar stools, and sat, elbows leaning against the granite counters. He swallowed hard at the thought of her naked bottom sitting on his chair, but he had to focus. He pulled on the internal alarm still humming deep in his chest to keep him focused.

  “There is a woman.”

  “Stephanie?” Debbie interrupted.

  He shook his head. “No. Stephanie is another dream thief. Right now she’s our Librarian. The leader, of sorts, and record keeper. No, the target is a woman. She works for Avient Pharmaceuticals in Lombard.”

  “That’s why you were there the day I picked you up.”

  “Yes and no. I missed half of her dream. I only have sketchy details, but I have found out that she works for the genetics division of this company. She is working on several projects right now, and one of those is going to go on to win the Nobel Prize.”

  “Isn’t that a good thing?” Debbie’s brow furrowed, holding her hand up as if asking why in the world he’d want to stop that from happening.

  “Normally it is, but there is something wrong with the experiments. Or rather with the outcome of one them. I don’t know if it will be put in medicines or new plants to feed people, but whatever it is causes humanity to stop reproducing.”

  “Reproducing what?”

  “Offspring.”

  She leaned back, shock etched on her face, “Wait. Wait. Wait. Hold on. You’re telling me that this Nobel Prize will lead to people not being able to have babies anymore.”

  “Exactly, and what’s worse, it’s not something that will be seen right away. It’ll take
years before people will pick up the decline in populations, and by then…well it may be too late.”

  Debbie bolted from the stool, the wooden legs scratching the floor with an accusing screech. “But why would it take so long? I mean wouldn’t people notice?”

  “Sure, but to see it across the planet, the drop in the fertility rate will have to spread.”

  She paced in his kitchen, bare feet slapping across the floor, while he leaned against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest, letting her take it all in. “But there are infertility treatments. Sure we might have a dip, but we wouldn’t die out. With as far as we have come. It couldn’t happen. Could it?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t get the whole dream, so I couldn’t see the entire outcome, but if I had, then we wouldn’t be having this conversation at all. It may be as you say, but who knows. I know there are sperm banks and places that keep frozen eggs, and that might hold humanity for a while, but it would be a limited supply. At some point, there would have to be more sperm or eggs, but maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with sperm or eggs. Maybe women won’t have a womb. No womb, nowhere for babies to grow. There are a lot of what ifs.”

  Debbie’s face paled then turned green. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

  “Take some deep breaths. Listen, I need your help, but if you can’t, there is another way to stop this.”

  “What other way?”

  He shifted, not daring to meet her eyes. “Don’t ask.”

  Debbie raised a brow. He marveled at the intelligence flashing in her eyes as she considered his words. With a slight turn of the head, he could see she decided she didn’t want to know. She cast her gaze away and shivered at some internal thought. “What do you want me to do?”