Chương 294: WOLVES WHO DREAMED TOGETHER

2 FEBRUARY, TUESDAY, NIGHT Now we gathered around the beanbags.

"So... How does this work?" Harvey asked.

"I dunno," I said. I thought about last night when I entered Ki's room and how I had instinctively wanted to take him dream travelling.

"I guess we all just sleep together." There was a heavy pause. Only Ki was smiling, but it was his smiling mask that he wore when he didn't know what kind of expression to wear. Harvey raised a brow at Ben.

"Well, Ben?"

"Sounds about right." Ben decided.

"I've been researching in the libraries. My mum has a small collection of books about the blue wolves too. Most accounts describe their dream-travelling adventures alone or with their mates. The records are mostly poetic in nature, so the exact science or even the methods for dream travelling are sorely lacking."

"It's fine. Just go with the flow. We'll just sleep together and we'd probably make it through together," I decided. Another silence as the guys considered this. I'm not sure what the big deal was. This was probably the least technical part of our entire setup.

"Since we're not sure how many of us would be able to follow Sam over, let's position ourselves strategically." Ben was the first one who snapped out of whatever gave my betas pause.

"Ki, sleep on her left. He has healing powers, so that would be useful. I'll take Sam's right side. My wolf has the tightest bond to hers, so I have a good chance of crossing over with her. So Harvey next to me, but holding Sam's hand or something," Ben decided.

"If we can sleep sitting up, maybe we can increase body contact," I suggested. The guys paused again.

"I really don't think..." Harvey started.

"Right. Sam sits on Ki's lap. Harvey and I would be on either side," Ben decided.

"No," Ki said.

"Not my lap." We looked at Harvey, who shook his head.

"I don't think I can, Ben."

"Fine. Sam can sit on me," Ben growled. I crossed my arms. The guys were making me feel like they really didn't want me on their laps. I wondered if I should be offended.

"I'm not that heavy, you know."

"Let's just get this over with," Ben grumbled.

"Come on, Sam." Ben sat down and pulled on his mask and opened his arms. I crawled over the beanbag to him and climbed on. The other two guys positioned themselves on either side of us. Actually, they were too close.

"Sorry, princess. We're making you feel uncomfortable," Harvey said. He didn't sound particularly comfortable himself.

"So now what do we do?" Ki asked.

"We fall asleep," I said, and then I laughed because this was so ridiculous.

"This reminds me of the time we got ourselves locked up in the laundry closet," Ben grumbled. That made me laugh again.

"Lizzy was so scared, she cried, but that was probably because you told her that if we ever got hungry, you would eat her first." Ben chuckled. It was almost like when we were pups, except Ben's laugh was low and growly now. I yawned. Ben pressed my head down on Ki's shoulder. Oh yeah, I guess he wanted to make sure we brought a healer. But I didn't want to leave Harvey behind. It didn't seem fair... I was awoken by a groan. I blinked in the dark. I couldn't smell anything, but I was being held down. I wriggled.

"S***," Harvey said. He got off me.

"Princess?" The body under mine sat up.

"Goddess, are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." But even as Ki moved out from under me, I fell back further into the weight behind me. My long hair was caught under Ben. My hair... I forgot... my long hair was always there in my dreams, even before I shifted. Ben growled. I twisted around in his arms to free my hair and ended up facing him.

"Ben, wake up." Ben's eyes fluttered open.

"What? Sam?" And then he started to purr. Immediately, Ki pulled me up, and Harvey hit Ben quite hard over the back of his head.

"F***, Sam. That wasn't what it looked like." Ben got off the bed. And then we looked around. We were standing around a large king-sized bed in a dark hotel room. Harvey checked the bedside table for the control panel and turned on the bedside light. He dimmed it so we could look around the room without drawing attention to our room.

"Looks like a hotel room."

"It's something like that." Ki seemed to know the place.

"Where's your Luna, goddess?"

"He's coming closer, but I sense a big vampire. This building is crawling with them. Seal your minds," I told the guys. It's going to be okay. I've got it. I squared my shoulders as the cold, dark, creepy presence came closer. Ki remade the king-sized bed.

"We should hide." He indicated the bar counter on one side. He seemed rather calm. Did he not notice the scary presence moving closer to us? Oh right, I forgot. Ex-fightdog, like Mate, he was probably more used to powerful old vampires than I was. I've got this. My betas were with me. I wasn't going to totally freak out this time. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Harvey turned off the lights. Not going to freak out.

"If the big vampire is the Ciara Lord, we take him down," I said. My betas spread out to hide. Ki and I behind the counter. Ben lay flat on the other side of the bed. Harvey crouched behind the large armchair. I decided to change places with Harvey. Perching myself on the seat so that the large wing-tipped backing concealed me. Unlike Harvey, I was small enough. We waited. I don't think either Mate nor the vamp was expecting us. But Mate's wolf should have known. {He's good at faking it.} Oh great.

My dark side was back. But in that moment, the fear melted away. Boo was fearless like that. The suite door opened, and the card key was slotted into its place by the door, lighting up the entire room. It's too bad I couldn't smell what was going on, but vampires had no smell anyway, and since we had no smells when we dream travelled, this made us even. (My logic entirely.) I had to trust the ones who ran with me. Even if all their mindlinks were sealed so that I could not sense their thoughts or loyalty anymore.

"Master, who am I serving today?" I heard Mate's deep voice.

"Lord Dionysus and company." The Vampire Lord answered.

"Don't worry. You have company too. Seven and Fluffy were also invited, so it won't be all on you this time." I clenched my teeth to keep from growling, and then I realized our target was here. The Ciara Lord... Why was I still hiding?

"Who's there?" The vampire lord seemed to realize something was amiss. He looked around, but I stood up so he would not notice my betas.

"Hello again," I said.

"Ah, the little blue wolf." The Ciara Lord's flame leapt a bit.

"Look, Rebel, isn't that your pretty friend?" Wolves had tails, vampires had dark flames. To me, he said, "Why are you back, little blue wolf? I had been looking for you." I had to admit, the old vamp was still creepy, but for some reason he wasn't quite as terrifying as the first time. Just grossly creepy. Rebel growled and shut the door. He bolted it. He's mad, at the vamp? At me? Ah well, he's always mad. I took out the handgun that Ki had strapped on me and tossed it to Bell. The old vampire leered.

"So feisty. You know, I like the ones that fight back best." Grrr... creepy old vamp. I supposed he didn't feel I was much of a threat because he turned his attention away to forcibly remove the gun from Bell. Bell shot, and at that moment, Ki and Harvey charged out. Two gunshots, and then a third. Ben appeared with a gun in one hand and a broad sword in the other. Ben was definitely spooked. He was spooked bad enough to suddenly charge forward with the sword.

The vamp tried to dodge, but he was ambushed rather quickly and unfairly. Now that he was a crumpled heap on the ground, he was less cold and creepy. Well, no, actually, he was still scary in an I'm-an-undead-kind-of-way, but for some reason, I can deal with that better.

"Don't kill him!" Bell sounded somewhat exasperated.

"Why not?" I said.

"Do you know what he wanted to do to me?"

"I can imagine," Bell muttered under his breath.

"He's so scary, I want to cut off his face," Ben said. Ben's wolf didn't deal well with feeling threatened.

"Stand down, Ben," Harvey said. But even my usual calm Beta sounded terse. Unlike Ki and Mate, old, powerful vamps were something new to us, and this one had the aura of an evil Pharaoh's tomb kind of oppressive flame. Ki walked over and used his foot to push the old vamp's body over. Then he bent down and pulled off a ring from his finger.

"That's not his real ring," Bell informed us.

"Where's his real ring?" I asked. Bell sighed.

"Princess, if I knew, do you think I would have to work so hard to entertain Lord Dionysius?" I looked at the half-dead vamp lying in a crumpled heap on the thick carpet. Now he tells us.

"We don't have much time, goddess. He's coming to," Ki said. I flared. Me don't like super scary creepy old vamp! Four gunshots almost at point-blank, all in a vital organ because unlike me, everyone else knew how to shoot a gun, but he was still fast recovering. Vamps are like roaches. They never know when to die. Ben, who seemed to share my strong dislike of super scary creepy old vamps, stuck the broad sword through his stomach. The blood pooled even though we were on the carpet. He looked pleased at the effect.

"I can do this all day." Harvey blanched a little.

"You're going to bleed him dry," Mate warned.

"You can't kill him. If his ring isn't passed down, the coven would go rogue."

"That sounds bad," I said.

"Look, just go. Get out of here." Mate said. He looked at the mess of half-dead vampire and blood, then he sighed.

"Dionysus' ring should have been mine tonight." Oops. Did we just get in the way of Mate's plan? I looked at the vamp on the ground. His expression was twisted. Well, he did get shot at multiple times... and grrr...

"He must have the real ring on him," I said, and then I suddenly remembered, "Henry said he needed it to summon his underlings and stuff." Harvey and Ki stepped reluctantly into the squishy carpet to search him. I'm glad we couldn't smell anything.

"Hurry, the stench of his blood would attract attention," Bell said. Oh right. Even though we couldn't smell anything, Bell and every vamp here had working noses. Then I noticed a glimmer of metal, a chain around the old vampire's neck maybe? I remembered how River kept his treasure on a chain around his neck. I pulled out the sword out from his stomach and swung it down across his neck. His head rolled off.

"Princess, I said don't." Mate face-palmed. But the moment the vamp's head came off, the last of the heavy, scary atmosphere dissipated. He was gone... Centuries of evil aura disappeared like a wisp of nothing. I reached down and plucked out the chain. Its other end was locked down. I pulled harder. Something moved in the dead vamp's jacket. Ki unbuttoned it. I continued tugging as hard as I could. Now Ki worked to unbutton the dead vamp's vest until we could see the chain, but it went around the vamp's body.

Ki sighed.

"It's behind him. Help me with this, Harv." He got up, and both guys pushed the vamp over until I felt something snap, and the chain came free. It was heavy with a ring and two seals hanging on it. It was a large ring, cold and definitely some kind of dark magic. I put it on.

"No, don't!" More than one guy around me shouted.

"Shhh... Someone is coming." I grinned at them with false bravado. Haha, as if I'd let anyone risk their life for me.

"I'll handle it. Take care of my princess," Mate bossed my betas and left the room. I do not need taking care of! Maybe some advice would help, though.

"Okay, now how do I summon the heir?" I tried wishing for the heir to show up, but no...

"It's not working," I said. There was the sound of footsteps, and then a muffled scuffle. And then Mate returned with two other Lycan. Each wolf had one or two dead vampires under his arm. They dropped their load just inside the door. Mate shut and bolted the door. From the discs imprinted on their torsos, and their customary leather pants and boots, it was obvious the two wolves who joined us were fightdogs. The first one had dark, straight, long hair. If my betas were Large, Medium, and Small, this guy was XL.

And he had an alpha wolf to boot. He was silent, his face unreadable, and no matter how I looked at him, even in his human form, I could only see his wolf. I liked him immediately. The second one was a blond guy with blue eyes that changed shades like the ocean. He was slender in build, and his hair was braided. He smiled very much the way Ki did, making him even more unreadable than his stoic friend.

They were standing next to Mate, and given a different set of clothes, looked exactly like the wolves who had been on the stage with Mate in my first prophetic dream.

"Mine!" I decided. Everyone froze. Mate started growling dangerously low.

"Which one, goddess?" Ki asked very gently.

"Both," I said.

"My army. Where are the others?"

"Sam, focus. The ring. You need to summon the heir to make the contract before the coven goes rogue," Ben reminded me.

"Give me that." Mate took the ring off my finger and put it on himself. He growled; there was an instant connection.

"Hey, why didn't it work on me?" I complained.

"You aren't really here. Like with the mating bangles, I suppose," Mate told me.

"Summon the heir, Luna," Killion prompted. Next thing I knew, a cold, dark flame appeared, and a vampire stepped out.

"You summoned me, my lord..." The vampire trailed off and looked around.

"What the hell? Rebel?" Rebel smirked and showed him the ring on his hand.

"Hello, Edward." Could it be? A vampire with a normal name?