The hand holding me, squeezes painfully. I grit my teeth, to not make a sound. The child in front of me was trembling, yet stepped forward. Mother hissed in his direction.
"How the fuck did this guy get in here?!" The voice slipping between humanity and something feral, feminine and masculine. A shot of pain spread from my arm, the result from slipping in black claws.
"Please it hurts…" A pained whimper, barely audible to the others. A few drops of red, drip to the wood below.
"Tsk. Baby's not gonna let me work alone after this." Mother's words don't register as odd to me. My conscious mind, twisting from some blurring sensation, going numb.
"No!" The boy yells.
The world goes cold. Ice spreads to every corner of the room, a mere touch and my mind snaps awake. Clarity returns, this is not real. An angry snarl erupts from within, I snap my jaws at 'mother'. My true form releasing from the nightmare.
The large golden wolf towers over the dream eater. Aware of his true nature, the illusion fades. Well kept black hair, dark purple eyes, strange clothes. A brown top with a hood and some sort of metal down the center. Pants in an unknown blue material. Shoes, like men's shoes but odd material and bright colors. A plain, uninteresting creature, if he didn't kidnap me.
"Mother of… shit!" He curses, shifting back to avoid my fury. I use his panic to place myself between him and Cain. "Calm down doggie. I didn't think you'd be stronger than me." He raises his hands up in a pleading guesture. Satisfied that he is no threat; a mere parasite, I focus on Cain.
'What happened? How are you here, Cain?' I need answers, need to know my men are safe.
"I'm not sure, but I fell asleep on your bed. So I ended up here?" His eyes narrow nervously. "Also a woman took over your body, Jewel." He rushes and stammers but it's still understandable.
Confused, I twitch my ears. Jewel is supposed to be one of my past lives. I even lived in her shoes in the dream. Thankfully there is a weak, scared, little, dream eater in front of the big bad wolf.
My head turns back, a show of flesh-tearing canines. A threatening growl. He flinches, ready to bolt. I can feeling a pulling sensation in my brain. I do not like it.
"Wait…!" He's flattened beneath my paws. He can't even struggle under my weight. I lick my jaw above, contemplating what dreams taste like to a wolf. I signal to Cain to get my message across.
"Explain." Cain puffs up next to me, feeling more secure now. "Or Blue will eat you." I chomp my jaw together for added effect, it works beautifully.
"Look I just came in for the free meal!" As expected of panicking prey; he speaks quickly. "It's not often you come across a powerful soul stuck asleep."
"Are you a demon?" Cain sounds disgusted.
"Yes, but don't hold that against me. Everyone has to eat." He snips.
This was my mind, and I was aware. I could feel every word and action in here perfectly. He was telling the truth, but that meant I was still trapped here. I shifted back into my human form in clothes, perks of dreaming.
"Can you help us wake up?" I add for incentive. "I won't let you leave till we do." He thinks for a moment, his face contorting into odd expressions. He lets out a groan.
"Maybe." He gets to see a rather odd expression of my own. He backpeddles. "Yes, yes I can help you. I just don't know how powerful your 'guest' is."
Powerful, she had to be, she was a conqueror after all. Her only weakness was her arrogance, her love blinded her. Odds didn't look good, but I refused to be another person's doll again. I breathed in, ready for a fight.
"Tell me what to do, I'll deal with her." The thought of killing a past self, Quartz's sister did not sit well. Hopefully, she would leave peacefully.
Cain tugged at my arm, his nerves, a constant shadow for him.
"Be careful." His eyes saying more. I ruffled his hair, a sense of something clicking between us.
"When this is over, we should have a talk Cain." Biting his lip, he nods, backing away to the corner.
"Okay. Dramatic and all, but I need to hold both your hands for this to work…" I narrow my eyes at him. Cain embarrassed walks back over, taking my hand. His blushing face is an adorable tomato color, against his frozen complexion.
The demon completes our circle and we blink back to the gate. Only a familiar woman sleeps at its base. Jewel.
"Kill her." The dream eater voice is flat. He flinched at my glare. "Or wake her… but I doubt she'll leave peacefully." He backs off as far as his feet can carry him, not wanting to participate. I signal Cain to do the same.
"No. I can't do much, but cold might slow her down." He shifts uncomfortably. "You freed me, I want to do the same." I appreciate his will, but my protective instinct is stronger than sentiment.
"You did free me, from the nightmare, Cain. Now go back, I want you safe." He doesn't fight my decision, but he's not happy with it. He walks off, a fearful look on his face.
I start to hear the voices from the gate once more, laughing at me. The numb feeling slipping back in. Their words taunting.
'You'll die.'
'Weak.'
'Failure.'
Just before I reach Jewel, I snap once more at the gate.
"Shut the fuck up! This is my mind, my dream, and I have no problem making it someone else's nightmare!"
Jewel sleeps with a smile, breathing even, peaceful. It was my body she was enjoying, one that I waited eighteen years of my life for. It was time I took it back. I lift Jewel up by the arm, and…
Thwack!
The void, the gate, it all trembles. Intense pain, the headache worse than any I've experienced. My eyes water from the pain, a forced growl spews out of me. Jewel's eyes open, staring right at my own. I felt my very soul tremble, confused, challenged for direction.
This was far more than my body at stake, it was my very exsistance.