Chapter 10

Good Lord! Zain’s human form was freaking insane! I now better understood why so many humans ended up in a relationship with their Wishes. We had dreamed up our ideal partner. And boy, had I gone to town on mine! He was tall and built like a bodybuilder. Not the overly bulgy ones where they even stop looking human, but the perfect proportions, and divinely well-defined grooves that made you want to lick him up and down. Thank God I wasn’t a man, or I’d be walking around with a permanent hard on.

I’d never been a superficial type of woman. In truth, most of the men I’d dated wouldn’t have qualified as drop-dead gorgeous. That I’d even think of Zain as a human right now showed how hard I had fallen for his appeal.

When I embarked on this whole adventure, I’d convinced myself I’d be safe because my Nightmare wasn’t a real person. He was just a fantasy that had somehow managed to take a human appearance. But when I’d joined him inside the bathroom to show him the basics, the only thought that had played in a loop in my mind was how badly I’d wanted him to pin me against the wall and fuck me senseless.

I no longer feared him. Whatever reservations I had about him being a threat to me had further faded away in his room earlier. As a psychopath driven by self-gratification, he shouldn’t have stopped masturbating when I’d asked. In many ways, Zain was in a position of power. We needed him far more than he needed us. He knew that as long as he didn”t cross certain lines, we would have no choice but to close our eyes to some of his more questionable behaviors. As long as he didn”t try to force himself on me, I technically couldn”t have forbidden him from enjoying his own body.

I couldn”t begin to imagine what it was like for him to feel touch for the first time—real human touch. A part of me had ached to comply when he asked me to touch him. The way his face had dissolved into a mask of complete bliss as his hand had gripped his cock had been the sexiest thing I had ever seen. I had wanted to be the one giving him that kind of pleasure. And that body… That ridiculous body, with its golden skin like melted caramel, and those arms and hands big enough to snap me in two without him breaking a sweat, had me weak in the knees.

I couldn”t be thinking about him as a lover, but that”s all my mind kept going back to. Pictures of his massive cock, impressive even as it was only half-erect, had me throbbing in all the right places. And yet, his need to please me had outweighed his own need for self-gratification. Thomson had been right. Zain was a weapon under my full control. I had to be careful about my own desires as he would act without hesitation, without remorse, without mercy to fulfill even my darkest of wishes. Even my hate could become a weapon of mass destruction.

As we entered the training room, I couldn’t help but shake my head when my Nightmare’s attention was immediately drawn to a couple of agents sparring in the boxing arena. The predatory grin on his face was both terrifying and the most incredible of turn-ons. Zain was the ultimate violent, heartless, bad boy. And he was turning me into a complete puddle. He was bad for me, like every other man I had desired before. My attraction to him was all the more dangerous that, this time, I knew I wouldn”t get physically hurt as I”d been by the others in the past.

“No,” I said when Zain made to go towards the two men sparring. “I”m not letting you anywhere near other humans right now, not until I know for sure that you have your more violent instincts under control.”

Zain glared at me and scrunched his face as if he”d bitten into something bitter.

“You know, my bride, you are no fun. A little spanking would have helped keep them on their toes,” Zain grumbled like a spoiled brat who had just been denied his favorite toy.

I chuckled and shook my head at him. “We”re not putting you through anything overly intense right now, especially since you”ve just eaten. For the time being, we”re just going to make you do some stretching and muscular exercises to help awaken your body and make you familiar with its strength and limitations. I don”t want you hurting yourself by overextending your abilities.”

I led him to the back of the room where we picked up a couple of bottles of water and a towel each. Opening the drawer as indicated on the instructions on my tablet, I retrieved a few wireless patches from it.

“Lift your shirt,” I said to Zain, relieved that my eagerness didn”t show in my voice.

His eyes widened in surprise before smoldering.

“Don”t get any funny ideas, big boy,” I said in a chastising tone. “I”m only going to place these monitoring devices on you to track your vitals while we”re doing some exercises.”

The slight disappointment that flashed over his features did funny things to me. What woman wouldn”t feel flattered to have such a breathtakingly handsome man obsessed with her? Even now, I wanted to sink my fingers through his wavy black hair that fell to his shoulders. He was stunning, with a square jaw, plump lips on a wide mouth that was made to kiss, a proud nose and emerald eyes with long eyelashes that would make any woman jealous. They stood out against his bronze skin in the most hypnotic fashion.

Averting my eyes not to get swallowed up by their mesmerizing effect, I lowered my gaze only to have a bolt of lust exploding in the pit of my stomach at the sight of the bare skin of his chest. I swallowed hard, forcing myself to ignore the obnoxious smirk that stretched his lips as I placed the patches on him. It was only fair when he shivered, his abdominal muscles contracting every time my fingers brushed against him.

The slightly evil side I discovered in me whenever dealing with Zain surprised me. I made it a point to deliberately touch him but in a way that appeared accidental. It was ridiculous because his torture was also mine.

“You may lower your shirt,” I said at last, the gravel in my voice giving away how much he was affecting me.

He complied without a word. When my gaze met his, my knees nearly buckled, and my stomach did a couple of backflips. He stared at me with an almost feral hunger. His parted lips gave me a glimpse of his teeth clenched in a snarl. With lightning speed, Zain”s hand wrapped around my neck, and he drew my face close to his. My fingers instinctively closed around his wrist, but I didn”t attempt to break free. Although his hold was firm, he wasn”t choking me.

“Be careful, little Naima. You are playing with fire,” Zain whispered, his lips a hair’s breadth from mine. “When my fire ignites, it will be all consuming.”

He released me and straightened, leaving me oddly disappointed.

I took a step back, startled to notice that the handful of agents inside the room had all stopped their training to stare at us. Judging by their stances, they’d been ready to intervene, thinking that Zain was hurting me. I discreetly shook my head to indicate that all was fine, and elbowed my wretched companion in the ribs when he started grinning at them in a provocative way.

We proceeded to perform some warmups. Zain didn”t see the point of any of this, even when I explained to him that it was to prevent injury. I was slightly concerned by the fact that it was becoming increasingly obvious that my Nightmare was disappointed by the extent of the weaknesses of the human body compared to the near invulnerability of his ethereal form. Still, he complied with my requests. Lifting weights actually met with his partial approval. He liked being able to put a number on his strength, especially compared to others.

However, he once again quickly grew frustrated with the limits of his new vessel. Thankfully, his self-preservation instincts exceeded his need to display power. He paid attention to the pain his body felt when he started to overexert himself.

“How the fuck am I supposed to hunt that Nightmare of yours with this pathetic body?” Zain asked with a bitterness laced with a quickly rising anger.

“There”s a reason we need you,” I said in an appeasing tone. “You are now seeing the limitations that we are coping with. However, you have something we don”t; your ethereal powers. With it, you can create a powerful armor that will shelter your human body from a tremendous amount of damage that would crush us. But it will also allow you to inflict an insane amount of damage to your target.”

Zain perked up, the glimmer in his eyes telling me I had caught his interest. I almost smiled in triumph.

“For that lesson, you will need someone better versed in the Mistwalker powers than me,” I continued. “And this is why what we”re doing right now is so important. You need to understand this body in order to know when to protect it and how much shielding is required based on whatever situation you will be facing. Preserving your energy will be vital moving forward since you can”t walk around shielded around the clock.”

He nodded slowly, his entire demeanor changing, and his frustration melting away. He looked at his body with new eyes and then at the various training equipment around us.

“Train me, my mate. I will master this body,” Zain said with a determination that tickled me in all the right places.

I should have corrected him for calling me his mate, but the moment passed and, truth be told, I didn”t really want to correct him.

Time flew while Zain pushed himself with the relentlessness and the discipline of an Olympic athlete. I couldn”t help the feeling of pride that washed over me as the other agents looked on with both admiration and awe. Thomson walking in put an end to our training.

Although he kept a calm and friendly expression on his face, the program”s director bubbled with an excitement that even I could feel. I didn”t need to read his mind to know he was as thrilled as I was to see Zain so fully cooperating. Granted, that cooperation was driven in large part by my Nightmare’s hunger for power. But as long as our respective goals aligned, we didn”t care about his motivations.

“Hello, Zain,” Thomson said in a warm tone. “I am pleased to see you adapting so quickly to your new body.”

“Did you expect any less?” Zain responded with an insufferable amount of arrogance.

Rather than being annoyed, Thomson seemed amused by my Nightmare’s ego.

“I had expected to be impressed,” Thomson conceded, “but I”m happy to see you exceed my expectations.”

Zain puffed out his chest and gave me a sideways glance. I grinned and shook my head at him. To my shock, he gestured at me before turning back to Thomson.

“I also happen to have the perfect coach,” Zain added.

Thomson’s face reflected the shock I felt. Psychopaths didn”t normally hand out compliments unless it benefited them somehow. He had nothing to gain from acknowledging my efforts. Should he have chosen to act like a complete douchebag, I would still remain by his side training him because the survival of the population of this city depended on it.

The program director gave Zain an odd look before smiling. “You are correct,” Thomson said. “Naima, too, has exceeded all that I could have hoped for. Much and more depends on the two of you.”

To my surprise, Zain appeared pleased by Thomson complimenting me. Then again, I shouldn”t have been. As he considered me his mate, his possession even, a compliment to me was a compliment to him. It confirmed the superior quality of something directly associated with him and, therefore, a part of him.

“But you have trained enough for the time being,” Thomson continued. “I want to show you exactly what it is that we would like you to face on our behalf.”

He gestured for both of us to follow him. Zain and I exchanged a curious gaze before falling into step with him. He brought us to a room I had not visited yet, located along the corridor on the right side of the cafeteria, halfway to the personal quarters located further back. It was a small auditorium able to seat about a hundred people. We sat down a few rows from the small stage, and a curtain opened revealing the giant screen at the back.

“Some of the scenes you”re about to see are quite disturbing,” Thomson warned the both of us although his gaze remained on me. “These are some of the recordings captured all over the city of the attacks performed by Darryl on unsuspecting innocents. This is so you understand precisely why every day, every hour is of the essence. His power grows exponentially by the minute. If this project is to succeed, we need you to confront him in all haste.”

A wave of unease washed over me, and my protective instincts came to the fore. Zain was still a newborn. He had just started familiarizing himself with his new body. Although his performance had been impressive in the gym, there was a huge difference between lifting some weights and facing off against a bloodthirsty predator who already had over six months of rampaging throughout the city, unstopped and unchallenged. Suddenly, my belief in Zain”s ability to bring Darryl to heel began to waver. How could he ever catch up to that Nightmare?

But the video footage playing put an end to my dark musings. I watched in horror as a rather handsome blonde man walked inconspicuously in a parking lot before making a sudden dash towards another person just as they opened the door of their vehicle. A number of cars still filled the parking lot, but there was no one else in sight. The limited angle of the camera gave the impression this was some sort of factory where an employee was leaving just as the late-night shift was beginning.

I couldn”t tell the gender of the victim. Even with the zoom in, the grainy image made it hard to tell. However, a stamped text at the bottom of the image stated Robert D. I could only presume that to be the name of the victim. In a way, it was a blessing that I couldn”t clearly see the features of that poor soul. Darryl had moved at supernatural speed, crossing close to two hundred meters in the time it took his prey to open the door, throw in a bag to the passenger seat, and put a foot inside the vehicle. Shadowy tentacles shot out from around Darryl and wrapped around the victim’s waist, before they yanked him back.

Robert struggled as Darryl turned him around so they’d be face to face. My stomach churned as he brutalized his victim, punching him and clawing at his face. Darryl was enjoying Robert’s terror and pain. I was grateful for the absence of audio. Seeing was already too much. Only when his prey stopped fighting did Darryl finally begin feeding. Well, to drain Robert’s lifeforce would be more accurate. There was no question in my mind that he had previously been feeding off of his distress. The same kind of electric waves flowed from his mouth into Darryl’s as Robert’s body quickly deflated. Once done, the Nightmare threw down the unrecognizable remains of his prey, and then he casually walked away. To my utter shock, he entered his victim”s vehicle and drove off.

I shuddered, swallowing back the bile that wanted to come up. A sideways glance at Zain made me even more uneasy. His eyes glowed with a sadistic glint that made my blood run cold. A gleeful grin stretched his lips as he raised an eyebrow in a way that spoke of approval, if not admiration.

“Smart and effective,” Zain reflected out loud. He looked at Thomson who was staring at him with a slight frown. “He made maximum use of the energy his prey had to offer. It is a smart move. Why settle for the lifeforce alone when you can also have the fear?” Zain added with a shrug. “That Nightmare is clearly focused on building his strength. This was not merely a hunt for pleasure, although he did get that as well.”

“He”s been getting plenty of it and growing exponentially bolder in his attacks,” Thomson said in a grim tone. “I will spare you the dozen other murders similar to this one that we managed to capture. However, this will give you a true sense of how powerful he has become, or rather how powerful he was five days ago.”

Clasping my hands on my knees, I braced for what would follow. I was shocked to see the feed from a camera inside a shooting range. Surely, the Nightmare wouldn”t be so bold as to go hunt in a place filled with ‘prey’ armed with live rounds that could kill him?

The same handsome blonde man we had seen in the previous recording walked into the range area, and casually strolled towards one of the empty lanes. Instead of entering it, he continued until he reached the last stall. He then grabbed the man busy shooting there by the back of his collar and yanked him back with enough force to send him crashing against the back wall.

Half-stunned, the poor man scrambled to his feet and aimed his weapon at Darryl who just stood there with a malicious grin. Opening his arms wide, he appeared to dare the man to proceed. His target mouthed something that I couldn”t hear, but that I guessed to be a warning to step back or get shot. And then Darryl’s ethereal shadow began swirling around him. The man made the sign of the cross, no doubt praying to a higher power to save him, then opened fire.

The bullet bounced harmlessly off the thin layer of shadow surrounding Darryl. The Nightmare suddenly rushed his victim and began draining him. He was almost done when another one of the shooters finally noticed something abnormal was happening. All of them had been deaf to the victim’s likely screams due to their ear protectors, and the loud noise of the weapons being fired at the targets down the lanes.

That second man yelled, and pointed his weapon at Darryl who ignored him as he casually finished his ‘meal.’ As the man drew the attention of the people in the neighboring stalls separated by full-height, black partitions, Darryl discarded the dried-up husk to turn towards his next victims. The person in the lane next to him had still not noticed the unfolding drama. Darryl’s tentacle shot out and nabbed him. The others didn”t dare to shoot for fear of harming the Nightmare’s second prey. But as he began feeding off of that one as well, they realized they had no choice but to intervene.

They opened fire, but once more, the bullets appeared to hit an invisible wall. Darryl didn”t flinch, in appearance completely immune.

“How the fuck does he do that?” Zain whispered to himself with awe laced with greed.

But even as he continued feeding, Darryl moved towards the other people, his victim partially serving him as a meat shield. They started to back away while shooting. Darryl merely increased the pace. As soon as he was within ten meters of them, he deployed his tendrils, pinning the arms of four targets against their bodies, immobilizing them. Four more people came running in, having undoubtedly been alerted by the security camera feed. But faced with the horrible spectacle that welcomed them, a couple of them ran back out while the other two joined forces with the remaining three shooters that had not been caught by Darryl yet.

It had been the moral choice, but a deadly one.

One after the other, the Nightmare syphoned the people held in his shadowy grip, discarding the corpse only to grab another victim, all the while feeding on one of those he still held. The last two shooters made a run for it once they finally understood there was no hope. When he had finished the slaughter, Darryl gathered the bodies, lining them up against the wall then standing between them. He placed his arm around the desiccated shoulders of one of the two female victims before taking a selfie. He then turned to the camera, winked, then waved with the tip of his fingers before walking out, his tendrils resorbing into his body.

“Smug bastard,” Zain whispered with a chuckle.

I recoiled and gave him a horrified look. Zain’s head jerked towards me. He must have sensed my repulsion at his statement. His smile faded, and he gave me an assessing look.

“I am what you made me,” he said in a neutral tone, although his expression was slightly reproving.

I swallowed hard and averted my eyes. He was indeed the result of my fears. I couldn”t fault him for liking what he did. But that further underlined what a powder keg I held in my hand.

“You are indeed,” Thomson conceded. “However, I would ask you to make every reasonable effort not to display your pleasure at the sight of violence against humans, especially in front of the agents. The victims you just witnessed were police officers in training. This was retaliation because agents had prevented him from slaughtering the resident of a retirement home. One of the officers happened to be visiting his mother and recognized Darryl coming in from the APBs.”

I shuddered again and hugged myself, my right hand rubbing my upper arm in search of some comfort.

“I see,” Zain said in a non-committal tone. “I will try to remember.”

Thomson clenched his jaw but didn”t argue, understanding as I did that this was the most honest answer—and the extent of the commitment—that Zain could give him on this front.

“How did he resist the bullets?” Zain asked.

“By protecting himself with an ethereal shield,” Thomson said, standing to face us. “It is the next training we are considering giving you.”

Thomson sat on the backrest of the seat in front of him in the auditorium. Zain leaned back in his seat, his long body appearing almost to be lying on an inclined bed.

“Only considering?” Zain challenged, raising an eyebrow.

“I have no intentions of training someone that might go out there and do more of the same,” Thomson said in a firm, but non-threatening voice. “We plan on using every means to help you succeed in defeating that monster and any other that might rise from the Mist. But for that, I require a commitment from you.”

“I’m here, aren”t I?” Zain said with an insolence that made me want to smack him a good one.

“First and foremost, you”re here because you want Naima,” Thomson retorted, his voice hardening slightly. “You”re also here because we gave you a safe rebirth location and an easy start for a first time Transient. You”re here because you hunger for power and dominance over a new world as yours has grown stale for you. You are not here to save humans. I want this to become your top priority, and for you to commit to see it through.”

Zain”s face closed, and my stomach dropped at the sight of the hard glimmer in his green eyes.

“That will never happen,” my Nightmare replied in a tone that brooked no argument. “I do not give two shits about the lives of humans. I will not hunt them, because my bride does not wish it. Your cause will never be my priority. My female is, and always will be. I do not need your aid or blessing to achieve the power I seek.”

“Zain, what are you saying?” I asked, my voice slightly shaking with fear and disbelief.

My Nightmare turned to look at me with an unreadable expression. He examined my features as if attempting to read my mind.

“Merely what I just said,” Zain said matter-of-factly. “I want you above all else. I do not care about this cause. I will take it on because it pleases you, my mate, and because I will derive great pleasure from the hunt, not to mention the power. But my commitment, as he calls it, is to you, and to making you mine.” He turned back to look at Thomson. “So no, Director Thomson. Unless you wish me to lie, I will not commit to making your cause my priority. So long as you keep my woman devoted to this project, you shall have my aid. But the minute she walks away, so will I.”

A thick silence settled in the room. I didn”t know how to feel about any of this. The weight of the responsibility that now rested on my shoulders overwhelmed me. Naturally, I wanted us to help the Fourth Division eliminate this threat. However, I didn”t believe myself strong enough to stomach the horrors that came along with it. The images from the videos would haunt me for a while. But more importantly, I feared I would grow repulsed and even terrified by the monster Zain might become as he fell down the rabbit hole of greater power—and potentially complete dominance—in our world.

As the silence stretched, and the weight of the stares of the two men on me intensified, I realized they were waiting for me to make a statement. I licked my lips nervously and swallowed hard. Locking gazes with Zain, I placed my hand on top of his. He stiffened, his eyes widening ever so slightly before they darkened. His gorgeous face took on a sensuous expression that made it harder for me to concentrate.

“Zain, I understand why your priorities are what they are,” I said in a soft tone. “You are indeed what I made you. And while your nature is troubling to me as a human, I do not fault you for it. All I know is that you are the key to making me and my people safe. I”ve been honest with you about your expectations for us. I will not make you false promises any more than you did to Director Thomson. But I promise that I will at least stand by your side as a friend and ally as long as you fight for us. Whatever the future holds for you, for me, for all of us, I can never be happy as long as I know that my fellow humans are being terrified and hunted by monsters. If you truly want my happiness, please help us.”

He wrapped his hand around my neck, and his thumb gently caressed my pulse there.

“As long as it makes you happy, my Naima, I will help you,” Zain answered. “And I can already tell you what the future holds. You will be my mate.”

To my surprise, he released my neck to brush his fingertips against my lips. Then, bringing them to his own lips, he kissed his fingers where they had touched mine. My stomach did a backflip, and my nipples tingled. I found that incredibly sexy.

Thomson’s intense stare on my Nightmare then on me, made me squirm. He didn’t need to remind me of how he hoped things would evolve between Zain and me. And while he didn’t pressure me in any way, I felt incredibly pushed towards something that could only be terribly wrong for me. And that made it all the more appealing and irresistible.

“You have your answer, Director Thomson,” Zain said casually. “But in order to face your monster, you will need to feed me far more than that human food you provided earlier. Are you willing to give me some of your agents to protect the greater numbers?”

“Zain!” I exclaimed, flabbergasted, realizing he was only half-joking, if at all.

“No. I will never feed you my agents,” Thomson said in a harsh voice. “However, we have been luring as many Beasts and Sparks as possible in our holding areas. We were planning on giving them to you once we”d reached an agreement,” he continued, casting a sideways glance towards me.

“It seems that we do have an agreement, correct?” I said, turning towards Zain.

“We do,” Zain said. “However, unless many of your Beasts are high level, their lifeforce will never suffice for me to compete with the one siphoned from a human—or in his case, from countless humans. Surely, you have some criminals that can be sacrificed to the cause?” Zain asked with a greed that made my blood curdle. “Don”t you have people on death row?”

I stared in horror at Thomson”s face as he narrowed his gaze and studied my Nightmare’s features while pondering his response. That he hadn”t immediately said no told me he was actually considering it.

“Death row convicts are no longer electrocuted or given lethal injections,” Thomson said at last.

He pinched his lips as Zain lifted an inquisitive eyebrow, leaning forward with a predatory grin.

“And what do you do with them?” Zain pressed. “Go on, Director Thomson. Your secrets are safe with me.”

Thomson looked as if he was feeling nauseous. “They are cast out in the Mist on the last day,” he admitted with reluctance.

I covered my mouth with my hand and stared at him with horror. I”d never been one to follow much about death row. Most states had abolished it over recent years.

“Feed them to me,” Zain ordered in an imperative tone.

“Zain, you can”t feed on humans!” I exclaimed before turning to Thomson and looking at him with pleading eyes. “Tell him! You don”t want to open that Pandora”s box.”

“And what do you prefer, my mate?” Zain challenged me. “That Darryl feeds off them and gets even stronger before I can confront him? That another Nightmare in the making grows fat on them? They are dead men walking anyway. If they die, shouldn”t it be so that innocents may live?”

“But they are people,” I argued pleadingly. “You”re here to kill monsters, not people.”

“Was Jared not a monster?” he countered.

That robbed me of words. Jared had indeed been a monster. I didn”t believe in taking someone”s life as punishment for a crime. And yet, I felt no remorse, guilt, or empathy for the fate that had befell my ex-boyfriend. He had sought to murder me just for the pleasure of watching me suffer and be destroyed by abominations. With the massive judicial reforms that had taken place a few years back, mistakes that had previously occurred were no longer an issue. Only the truest, and most unredeemable monsters were now condemned to death row. Still, it was one thing to see your personal tormentor get his comeuppance, but another one altogether to coldly plan the death of a stranger, no matter how horrible he may have been.

“I do not have control over the handling of prisoners,” Thomson said, while eyeing me warily. “They are under the jurisdiction of a different branch of the government.”

“I don”t give a shit,” Zain said dismissively. “Figure it out, but give them to me. Now, I”m ready for that shield training,” he said rising to his feet.

I instinctively followed suit, disturbed by the not so subtle shift in power that had just occurred. Once again, I wondered if we weren’t creating an even greater monster than Darryl.