Her skin prickled as the sensation of being watched slid through her. She could almost feel them standing over her shoulder, breathing against her neck. "Hello!" She was uncertain if she actually desired an answer or not.
It was a dream, it had to be, and she had the presence of mind to realize that it had to be her dream. Therefore she should be able to get herself out of here, put herself somewhere warmer at least. Shouldn't she?
She rested her hand against the bark of one of the trees. It scraped against her skin as bits of it broke away beneath her weight. "Oh," she breathed as she ran the coarse bark between her fingers. This was so completely not normal.
Her head shot up as a tree branch plummeted to the ground. There was something stalking her, something playing with her. Cassie pressed her back against the tree and surveyed the forest as she waited for whatever was out there to make an appearance. She didn't have to wait long as a figure emerged through the shadows and trees.
Lighter blond highlights within the dark golden head became visible first. His honey hued eyes gleamed in the radiance of the moon. His head tilted to the side, his white teeth flashed in his tanned face as he smirked at her. "Zane."
He winked at her. "Hello gorgeous," he purred.
She remained immobile as he took a few more steps forward. How was this possible? Zane had the ability to astral project, but she didn't think he would be able to control dreams in this way. Was she somehow doing this? Did she somehow create this world with Devon's power, and bring Zane here by accident?
"What have you done?" she whispered.
His eyes sparked with merriment. "Oh this one wasn't me freaky eyes."
The bark bit under her nails as her fingers dug into the tree. "I see," she murmured.
"Do you see Cassandra? Do you really? I'm sure you know the meaning behind your name." Cassie watched him like a mouse watched a cat as he moved through the woods. He didn't come any closer to her though as he weaved in and out of the trees. "The story of it."
"Yes." She was well aware of the story of Troy.
He stopped moving and turned toward her. His cat that ate the canary grin made her yearn to drive a fist right into his pretty boy face. "Poor, doomed, Princess Cassandra."
The way he purred the word princess let her know that he was somehow aware of the fact that it was how Julian often referred to her. Cassie's skin started to crawl, she didn't know where he was going with all of this, but it felt like he was spinning a web in order to entangle her. "Cassandra could foretell the future, but no one would believe what she had to say. Did Melissa ever have that problem?"
"Did Matthew?" Cassie retorted.
Zane shook the snow from his head as he began to weave through the trees once more. Cassie's uneasiness grew as she watched him. He was planning something, he was tormenting her for some reason that she couldn't foresee. Then again, maybe that was his point, that she couldn't foresee what it was he had in store for her.
That thought did little to ease the cold encasing her body.
"I bet you always believe Melissa, that you never doubt her visions, even when they don't come true." He'd circled back before her again, but this time he was holding a tree branch in his hand. He tapped it against his open palm as he studied her. "Just as I have always believed what Matthew has told me about his visions, even when they do go wrong, or don't come to fruition."
She remained silent and wary as he circled her like a shark. "I bet that when you go back and tell them about this, they will find it difficult to believe, but that they will believe you," he continued.
He began to tap his hand a little faster with the tree branch as he stopped circling. Cassie eyed the foot long, two inch wide piece of wood. She dimly recalled it was rumored that if a person died in their sleep than they died in real life. She didn't know if that was Zane's intentions here, but she had no weapons, and she wasn't sure her abilities would work or if she should use them. She wasn't ready to reveal to Zane what she may be capable of.
"They will," she agreed.
His fangs flashed in the light. "Of course they will. You aren't doomed in the same way as that Cassandra, but you are doomed princess. Your whole race is."
Cassie became aware of a new set of eyes watching her from the shadows. She kept one eye on Zane as she searched the forest. "Unless, of course, you choose to join my side."
Cassie spotted a smaller shadow within the woods, its head poked out as it watched the two of them from behind a rock. "You know that is never going to happen."
"Not willingly, no. Matthew had told me some interesting things about you Cassandra. He couldn't see it all of course. No one can ever know everything, right?"
"Of course," Cassie agreed.
Just what had Matthew revealed to Zane about her? The stranger darted out from behind the rock and slithered through the trees. "Of course there are those that have more power than they should," Zane continued. "And we must find other weapons out there to help us keep them in check, to help us protect ourselves. Right princess?"
Cassie didn't answer him as the stranger approached. She wouldn't have been less surprised if an alien dropped out of the sky before her than she was to see the little boy emerge from the shadows. "Weapons we can twist and shape the way that we require them to be shaped."
Her confusion mounted as the boy stopped thirty feet away from Zane and studied her with large, remorseful eyes. There was something about the boy that drew her in, something that she recognized and sympathized with. "What is going on Zane?" she choked out.
"You're not the only one with power. You're not the only Hunter." Cassie turned back to the boy as realization trickled through her. Cassie had never wanted to wake up so bad in her life, but she didn't know how to escape, didn't know the magical words that would free her from this place. She had created this world, and she was finally beginning to understand why, but now she felt as if she was stuck in quicksand. "It's a war princess, and from what Matthew has told me, it is a war for your soul."
CHAPTER 15
Cassie panted rapidly for air that she didn't require as she shot upright in bed. Her head spun, she couldn't form a coherent thought as she continued to try and draw air into her lungs. Her hand and knee smacked off the nightstand as she threw herself out of the bed. She couldn't stop wheezing as she crawled away from the bed. "Cassie!"
Light blazed into the room, she heard the creek of the bed as Devon launched to his feet. He raced around the bed, dropped to the floor before her and seized hold of her hands. "You're freezing!" His eyes were glittering garnet pools as they narrowed upon her. "What happened?"