“Supposedly she’s made it so we can endure the sunlight of Earth,” Ulric said. “Can you imagine? After centuries upon centuries of not being able to stand in the sun, now both the Kurjans and the Cysts can enjoy the heat.”
It was, unfortunately, true. “She’s lying to you,” Sam said. “Sorry about that. You can’t go into the sun. Now, why in the world would your Intended lie in such a way?”
Ulric’s face contorted, and flames burst up from the beach around him. “How dare you.” His voice thundered, and ripples flared in the goo. His nostrils widened, and then he calmed, his chin lowering. “Oh, Kyllwood. The things I’m going to do to you.” He flicked his wrist, and a portal opened.
Sam stiffened in preparation, but instead of the portal pulling him through, a body crashed down onto the platform he’d just vacated.
“Darn it, Ulric.” Hope Kayrs-Kyllwood pushed herself to her feet, wearing a cute cami-short sleep set. She looked around, and then her blue eyes widened as she spotted him. “Uncle Sam.”
Oh, hell. The flames on his arms grew hotter along with his temper. “Hope.” His niece was eighteen and had apparently visited Ulric before this. “How about you tell me what’s going on? I’d just freaking love to find out how you know Ulric here.” He had to keep his head involved rather than his temper.
She looked fragile but her voice was strong. “I was drawn in two weeks ago, the day after I turned eighteen. I’m safe here, Sam.” Her blue eyes burned through the mist, and with her brown hair in a ponytail, she looked young and breakable. “You know I’m the Lock.”
“You know you’re the Lock?” he muttered.
She rolled her eyes, looking so much like her mother that he could only stare. It was as if Janie stood there for a moment. “Of course I know.”
Ulric snapped his teeth together. “Shut up, female. I didn’t bring you here so you could have a family reunion.”
Hope slowly turned to face the immortal. “Did you just tell me to shut up?”
Ulric puffed up like a predator of old. “You—”
“You shut up, you old bastard.” Hope lowered her head, her eyes more violet than blue. “I’ve been here three times, and that’s all I need.” She stretched her arms, and fire lanced along her skin.
“Hope!” Sam yelled.
“I’m fine. So are you.” Her hair blew back, and she lifted her hands, sweeping them both out of the world.
Sam spun around and jerked wide awake in his bed in the cabin.
Holy shit.
Chapter Twenty
Hope Kayrs-Kyllwood sat up in her bed, safe in her family home at demon headquarters. She flipped on her light and already had her phone in her hand when it buzzed. “Hi, Uncle Sam.”
“Start explaining and right now,” Sam barked.
She let out a startled laugh. Uncle Sam was the one who never lost his cool. “Ulric bounced me in two weeks ago and then two more times before I figured out how to control it. Tonight I imagined a shifting of the worlds with just enough power to alter my path and yours—he shouldn’t be able to force either of us in again.” She sighed. “But that won’t stop the pull from other places, or the fire, so you’ll keep getting burned and might find yourself drawn into other dimensions. I’m working on it.”
Sam’s voice scratched with irritation. “How do you know about that?”
“Dreamed about it,” she said honestly. “Not sure if Fate is helping me out, but I can see what you’re dealing with. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to help you. Yet.”
“Honey—”
“We can’t stop it,” she said gently, growing tired of everyone trying to protect her when some things just couldn’t happen.
He was quiet, which was never a good sign. “You seemed…comfortable. Not scared. What do you know that I don’t?”
Anything she knew would just create more nightmares for him. “I was terrified. Ulric is more than an immortal—more than even what the ritual made him.” Killing him was going to be next to impossible, and the sacrifices that would have to be made were gut wrenching. And it still might not work. “I learned a long time ago not to reveal fear to a bully.” Evil truly existed, and she wished she didn’t know that fact. Her stomach hurt.
“I’ll protect you from this,” Sam said.
Her uncle was powerful—probably more so than he knew right now. More than she could figure out. “I know,” she said softly because that was what he needed to hear. “Now. I’m safe at home, guarded from every angle, and you’re safe now too. Let’s get some sleep, and if I figure out anything else, I’ll let you know. Please don’t tell my parents. There’s nothing any of us can do about this.”
Sam started to argue as only a Kyllwood male could. So she faked a scratchy sound. “Oops. I’m losing you. Must be a tunnel somewhere.” Then she clicked off, chuckling. At least Sam was usually rational. He’d think about the situation and come to the right decision in the morning. The sad fact was there was nothing anyone could do, and man, the Kyllwood family as a whole hated that very thought. For that matter, so did the other side of her family. The Kayrs family.
Sighing, she snuggled down in her bed again. It had taken a full week of meditation to figure out how to close the gap so Ulric couldn’t get her, and now she was tired. So freaking tired.
She drifted into sleep and immediately found herself in a cheerful world with light pink sand, a bubbly blue ocean, and a clear, aqua-colored sky.
“Ah, darn it,” she muttered, sinking a foot into the clean sand. She’d already done her job and messed with Ulric, so why couldn’t she get a decent night’s sleep?
The time of Ulric and the ritual was coming soon, and more of this crap was going to happen.
Well, at least now she knew she could once again visit the good dreamworlds. Since she’d turned eighteen and had been briefly subjected to Ulric’s whims, she had avoided other dreamworlds. Gut instinct told her they were available now, though they hadn’t been for the last few years.
Did she have any power here? She sat on a rock warmed by two suns and then flicked her wrist.
Her friend Paxton Phoenix immediately took form, standing up to his ankles in the water. He looked around, caught her gaze, and frowned. “Are you kidding me?”
Hope laughed, swinging her foot back and forth while making sure she wore clothes. Yep. Blue shorts and a white tank top.
Pax wore black shorts and a gray tank top that showed off his new and rather impressive muscles. His black hair hung shaggy beneath his ears. His eyes had always been blue, but as he’d gotten older, a silver sheen had metallicized the color. “I thought you had to be sleeping near me to get into these dreamworlds.” Yep. Though he was only a few months older than Hope, he’d already perfected that vampire-demon hybrid growl when he was annoyed.