25. Cage

CHAPTER 25

CAGE

Screams ring in my ears.

Terror hits me like a wave, but it's not mine. I can sense those around me forming an ocean of dreams. My chest constricts as if I'm drowning in their fear, their excitement, and their rage. Digging deeper, I know I'm not feeling any of those things.

My emotion is a singular spike that hits me straight through the chest.

Lust .

I can hardly see straight as the world around me goes fuzzy, and the faint taste of peaches has my mouth watering. The dream plane is different in this dimension.

More like a realm than a plane.

This one still overlaps with the real world like I'm used to, but it's so much larger . It's like an entirely new place where creatures lurk and dreams are impossibly vibrant.

And filled with blood. Delicious blood in rivers that flow like some sort of Strigoi heaven.

And the screams… dear Gods.

There's a female's scream that is a mating call to my senses. Every fiber of my being aches to follow it.

Is that our Sigil?

It has to be.

My throat works on a swallow as I try to orient myself in the moment. If there is a heaven for my kind, I might have thought I found it had I not been in such excruciating pain.

My vision fluctuates with blacks, reds, and flashes of the city street under my cheek. Sabre is only a few feet away, but based on his body writhing in agony, he's not doing much better than I am.

We're going to die before we even get a chance to find her.

Traveling through the dimensional portal Maliki had created had a side effect, one that none of us could have predicted.

It drained us on the way here, and neither Sabre nor I had much in the way of reserves to begin with. This Dream Realm is different and requires walls to be put up around my mind before it shreds me into pieces.

Concentrating, I imagine forming bricks and cementing them around myself, one by one, until I'm inside a dark tower and can't see anything at all. It mutes the delicious screams and makes me feel even more disoriented, but at least I can breathe.

One.

Two.

Three.

I count each long, deep intake of air as I force my body to function. As much as I want to dreamwalk and find my Sigil calling out to me, my physical body needs to be in top shape to endure the drain that requires in this world. Right now, I can't do both. Not until I drink blood to replenish what the dimensional travel has cost me.

"Cage," Sabre grounds out, his voice gravelly and hoarse as he turns onto his stomach and crawls toward me. "Did you put up a wall?"

I nod. "I did, but we need blood if that's going to last more than a few minutes."

"Hmm," he agrees, then hisses when he tries to move. "I'm in no shape to hunt," he says, glancing up at the empty street. "Please tell me you heard those screams, Cage. I lied before. When you asked me if I had heard her, I said I didn't hear anything."

"I know," I say as I rest my head against the ground and stare up into the dotted sky. The constellations are all wrong.

Or they're right.

"Do you know what a Sigil is?" I ask him.

He goes quiet for a moment. "I suppose that's one of my family secrets you found." He blows out a breath. "My father has been trying to breed one for years. I always thought he was an idiot."

"He is an idiot," I agree, then flick my tongue over my lips, still unable to shake the taste of sweet peaches and cream. "But he might have been onto something. He was just looking in the wrong place."

Sabre's red eyes brightly flash a few times before they go black. "We'd have to let our walls down to find her, but I can hardly move like this." His nostrils flare at the same time I scent mortal blood. We both glance down the dark street.

He rakes his claws over the ground, leaving deep gouges in the stone. He remains in his humanoid form, but his body is on high alert, ready to strike.

Power fluctuates all around us, making me dizzy with the rush of so many powerful beings all in one place.

This must be Monsters Night.

We both struggle to our feet when a woman approaches us. It's the first person we've encountered in this new world, but she's not our Sigil. I can tell when she comes close enough for me to spot a brand on her neck.

And she doesn't smell at all like peaches.

She's human. I can taste her mortality, but she's still magically protected. There's an icy, dark power that wraps around her like a shroud, daring anyone to tempt the veil of death she carries.

"Hello," she says brightly as she rolls back her shoulders and clasps her hands in front of her pantsuit. She looks like she's dressed up to go to an attorney's office, but her attitude matches that of a preppy college girl.

Odd combination.

She flashes white teeth as she grins and takes her time perusing Sabre, then me. "You two must be the monsters I'm looking for."

"Monsters," Sabre repeats dryly as he drags out the word with a snarl. "Why don't you just call us abominations while you're at it? We're used to it."

The female's perky demeanor doesn't change, but there's a tic in her jaw. "Oh, um. I didn't mean to offend…" She clears her throat, then pulls her purse around from her hip and digs out a letter. "I'm an official Emissary of Monster City, and Queen Helia would like me to extend this invitation?—"

Sabre moves faster than I would have expected him capable of, given the drain we just experienced. He snatches the letter from the female's hand and rips it open with one claw. Unfurling it, he frowns as his eyes skim the contents, then he reads one of the lines aloud.

"Welcome to my city, and please make yourselves at home. After you enjoy the festivities of Monsters Night, you are invited to my main tower to stay in a guest suite, where you will be supplied any sustenance you require. In exchange, you will meet with me in a week to review the terms of our alliance with you and your world."

"She sounds bossy," I complain.

"Hmm," he agrees, then reads one more line. "If Emissary Sheila has located you, then my instincts were right." He flicks his predatory gaze up to the female. "What does that mean?"

I'm impressed that the little mouse doesn't squeak and run when faced with a beast like Sabre. He's itching to find our Sigil just as badly as I am.

Funny how everything changed in the span of a few breaths.

I don't have to ask if he still intends to return to our dimension. We're going to be staying.

Our Sigil is here.

There is no going back.

The female flashes us another annoyingly perky smile. "All your questions will be answered when you meet with the Queen in a week's time. Until then, I assume you're hungry?" She pulls two vials from her purse, then holds them out to us.

Sabre eyes the female and her throat bobs, but he must share my own thoughts. We want fresh blood, but not hers.

Only our Sigil's will do.

He snatches up the vial and downs it, demonstrating his acceptance of this invitation into this realm.

I do the same.

"Let your walls down, Cage," Sabre instructs me as a flood of nourishment burns in my veins. Whatever blood this new Queen prepared for us is not only rich in vitality but also rich in dreams .

She knew exactly what we needed, which means I fully intend to talk to her in a week's time.

For now, I gladly do as Sabre commands.

"Lead the way," I growl as the world around me turns red.

And we both march away from the city and into the forest, our bodies looking for a place to nest for the night while our spirits dreamwalk.

I grin as I follow the screams.

Hold on, Sigil.

We'll be with you soon.