Pleasures of the Night(13)
“No.”
A shudder moved through her. She’d just made love to a man she couldn’t see. It was so bizarre, she didn’t know how she was supposed to feel. “What does a Dream Guardian do?”
“It depends,” he said, his voice rough. “There are a lot of us, and we’re divided into certain specialties. Each Guardian has their strengths. Some are tender and offer comfort to those who grieve or are deeply saddened. Others are playful and fill in dreams of sports heroes or reality television shows.”
“I suppose you’re one of the tender ones,” she guessed, remembering his compassion and caring, and finding peace in that. She didn’t know what he looked like, but she knew what type of man he was, and that’s what really mattered.
Aidan stiffened beneath her.
Her brows rose. “What?”
“I’m Captain of the Elite Warriors,” he said, as if that explained everything.
I keep the bad guys away, he’d told her that first night. But he’d been kind to her. Tender.
“What’s an Elite Warrior?”
“I’m assigned to protect Dreamers who have recurring Nightmares.”
“Like a bodyguard?”
“More like a military rescue.”
“That’s why you’re so big.”
He stared at her intensely. “I’m a large man, yes, but I don’t know what you see when you look at me, Lyssa. Your dream is fabricating my appearance. Dreamers can’t see Guardians. Your subconscious fills in the gaps.”
“Oh.” Lyssa sank deeper into the scarves. “Why do I need an Elite Warrior in my dreams? I don’t have nightmares.”
“The door you built is a formidable one. We had to come in, and I’m the muscle.”
Her short laugh held no humor. “That’s why you came back tonight? Because I wouldn’t open the door to the other…Guardians?”
“Yes.”
Her stomach knotted. She had totally believed that line about him worrying about her. “Why do they want to come in here so bad? There’s nothing to see.”
Aidan sat up and rested against a pile of pillows. Aside from the silver chain and stone pendant he wore, he was unabashedly naked. The most luscious masculine animal she had ever seen. Even as she applauded her imagination, she mourned that he wasn’t real.
His male perfection was all in her head.
“Nightmares are real,” he said. “Just not in the way humans have come to see them.”
“Huh?” She waited for him to speak, and then listened with damp palms as he explained abbreviated space, space-time, and planes of existence in a voice devoid of inflection.
Since the Nightmares had discovered the human subconscious through the fissure created by the Elders, the battle was never-ending. The dreams created in the human mind had given Nightmares a new power source on which to thrive. Fear, fury, misery—these were easily aroused through dreams, and fed them so well.
“Too many times I’ve seen the dark circles under human eyes, the slumping shoulders, the weary shuffling stride.” Aidan’s hands fisted rhythmically in his lap. “Over the years the Elders have tried to close off the tiny crack between the Twilight and your world, but there’s no way, Lyssa. We can only do damage control.”
And here she’d thought she was an expert on dreams after a lifetime of struggling with hers. How little she knew.
“We fight back as best we can to protect you,” he continued. “We’ve become phantasms, taking on the form and nuances of each individual subconscious.”
Lyssa considered everything carefully, and then asked, “Why do I have to know all this? I’m assuming most people don’t?”
“Most people don’t,” he agreed. “But you’re stronger than most. You recognize all guises, and you can keep us out if you want to. I’ve been asked to convince you to open the door. Since you understand that this is a dream, which is rare, but not unheard of, I decided to give it to you straight.”
“They just want to come in, look around, and see if there are any Nightmares lurking in here? Isn’t that your job?”
Aidan was silent a moment, then, “They’re looking for someone, Lyssa. They’re not sure who they’re looking for, but there are certain traits that raise alarm. You bear some of the traits. I worry that too many years of searching have made them overzealous. I want you to be careful when they visit with you. I would prefer that you reveal as little as possible without appearing suspicious. I’m telling you this because I want you to be prepared.”
She nodded. “Okay. We should come up with a secret signal or something. If I start talking too much, you can warn me.”