Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 The Umbra
   by Nysidra
   Occult Fiction
   <->
   -_ Dream Walking _Talia lay back on her bed and staring at shadows
created by passing cars.  These shadows were static, created by light. 
Though she called him a shadow, these were nothing like him.
   Sensual voice, humming.  Twisting presence, pressure swirling around,
teasing.
   A bashful grin crossed her face.  Was it wrong to fantasize about a
dream creature?  Perhaps this was the true origin of a dream man.
   Her shadow was shapeless, quick, serpentine.  A cloudy void darting from
place, drawing ever closer across her dream scapes.
   Then all was black.  He enveloped her, embraced, surrounded.
   Even without a form, Talia was sure of the shadow's gender.  He had a
crooner's voice and each time they met his demeanor was seductive, playful.
He would press along her as a lover, flush along her body.
   Talia would never put him in the 'creature of light' category, even
without him being a pulsing mass of darkness.  He had a kind of villainous
charm that made her dreams a decadent indulgence.
   The first time they met, he was motionless, hovering in front of two
gleaming crystals.  He seemed like the shadow of a person, completely dark,
but indistinct.  Even so, his curved posture conveyed confusion, deep
thought.  He reached out to select one of the crystals only to snatch back.
   One of them glittered like mica being hit by the sun, the other appeared
blue, gave off soft rays of green light.
   She pointed out her observations followed by, "Are you trying to decide
which one you like best?" Talia thought nothing of striking up a
conversation in the dream world.  Everything was a part of her, and so,
talking to anything in her dreams was like talking to herself.
   The shadow grew to twice its size, and the mountainous environment
dimmed.
   Talia ran.  She didn't think twice about threats.  Even in the dream,
fear and self-preservation won out over rationalization.
   Several weeks later, Talia saw the shadow person again.
   He moved toward her through the air in a serpentine wave.  "Thank you."
   She smiled.  "You're welcome."
   "Would you help me again?"
   "Ah," She recalled the large mass of darkness he turned into, the sense
of malevolence.  Help him?  "Sure."
   The tasks were generally easy, sometimes she had to admit that she
couldn't be sure of what she saw.  The violence then was mild, a mere taste
of things to come.
   Their relationship devolved over the years.
   Yes, devolved.
   He was an exotic departure from normality.  They went from identifying
items to identifying weak targets, then to eliminating those targets.
   Once, she found him standing over a middle aged man bound by spikes to
the ground, smeared in some kind of dark oily substance.
   "Oh, you," he cooed.  "Play with me."
   "What kind of game?" She walked in a circle, keeping the man's body
between them.  It was a foolish move.  He moved behind her quick as a
breeze.
   "Capital Punishment." He placed a whisper of a kiss on her shoulder.
   If it was a test, she must have passed, because he invited her to play
other games.  Games of torture and torment that Talia never could have
experienced in waking life.  She became the antagonist of another person's
nightmare.  He made her dreams a true cathartic escape.  Each morning after
being with him, she thanked her imagination for being so cool.
   It had been almost a month since she last dreamed of him.  Talia closed
her eyes and focused on the flowing darkness.  She needed the decadence of
his presence in her mind.
   She wiped her swollen eyes and concentrated on his memory.  She focused
on keeping her respiration slow and measured, letting herself sink into
sleep, keeping her memories of him forefront, pushing all the stress of the
past week toward the back of her mind.
   Perspiration beaded on her forehead.  She had turned her AC off when the
rains began, but mugginess filled the air now.
   Forget that.  Concentrate on him, finding him.
   What game will we play tonight?  Something that made someone other than
her feel pain.
   ***
   Houses, lawns, green trees, paved road.  Talia walked along a suburban
street.  The buildings shimmered as heat waves rose from the asphalt.  The
brown truck parked on the grass had a black and orange 'For Sale' sign in
the windshield.  A canopy of trees offered a moment's respite from the
blazing heat.
   Bright colored metallic ornaments had invisible flames rising from them.
Some of the transparent flickers jumped from the yard ornaments and danced
together in the yard.
   A massive tree with black leaves covered all of another yard.  She stood
in the shade, looking up into its branches, sweat dripping down her body.
   Shadows.
   The sweltering heat eased as she approached the towering home.  Three
stories high, it looked out of place in the neighborhood of brightly
painted modular homes.  It had gothic spiked roof points, a brick chimney,
and long, shuttered windows like something out of a horror film.
   Each step closer to the house felt cooler.  A damp chill gathered around
her ankles.  She passed a stone bench sitting in front of a large tree
stump.  A perfect spot to sit and kick back.
   A growl overhead.
   Talia took several steps back and looked up.
   A midnight blue dragon rose from behind the house and settled on the
roof.  Its wing span covered the property.  It looked down at her with
glowing sapphire eyes.  If it decided to breathe a plume of fire, Talia
would burn.
   Darkness covered her, blocking her view of the dragon.  Someone pulled
away from the house.
   "You seek me?"
   She found him!  Talia smiled.  "Yes."
   "Now that you've found me," he lowered his voice to a sultry growk,
"whatever will you do?"
   "Whatever I please."
   The darkness expanded, but Talia felt only joy.
   "I like the sound of that," he said.  "Come with me."
   The dream was everything she needed.  A nightmare, bringing torment to
someone rather than receiving it.  She threw herself into the task of
beating the brunette male between two pillars.  She whipped him till he
bled while her shadow friend interrogated him.  Even after the inquisition,
Talia continued to lash his body.  Flesh swelled and parted, blood pooled
at his feet.  She dropped the whip to her side, panting and exhausted.
   "Good?" His voice contained no hint of judgement or surprise.
   "Much better," she sighed.
   "Let's clean up."
   "Clean up?"
   "These parts have their use."
   They carried the body parts to a thick forest, the upper canopy cast
glittered as points of light filtered through the leaves.  He emptied the
bag at the base of the thick tree with sprawling above-ground roots.
   "I've been feeding this flesh tree since it was a sapling.  Not that
they need it, but the fruit is much sweeter if they've been well fed their
whole life."
   Talia nodded, that was all she could add to his comment.  He packed the
blood and flesh into the black soil.  The tree seemed to breathe, each
rustle of its branches and leaves created a squishing sound.
   He turned with a piece of fruit in his hands.  "You don't already know
this?"
   "No.  Am I supposed to?"
   "Just checking," he smirked and took a bite of the fruit.  Talia swore
she heard it give a little cry of pain.  "There's someone else here with
us. Can you detect it?" He circled her, taking more bites from the fruit.
He didn't offer her any and Talia wasn't sure if she'd accept if he had. 
The dark orange meat disappeared into the void.
   "I can't do that, not if I can't see it, but I could do something else."
   His form contracted into a pillar, then backed away.  "Show me what you
can do."
   First the sky began to lighten as if the sun were rising.  Sounds of
waves drowned out the groan of wet trees.  The caw of a gull replaced the
shrill cry of whatever lurked in the dark forest.  Grass grew tall and
waves in the breeze.  It tickled her legs.
   The grass field ended at a rocky cliff.  As the waves crashed it sprayed
a fine mist of water.  Talia kept the sky overcast, she wasn't sure if a
shadow creature wanted the full force of the sun on him.
   "Oh," he chuckled.  "I see now."
   "You do?"
   "Mmm hmm," he hummed.  A soft rolling sound he made while innthought. 
"And if that's the case, then..."
   Talia stopped breathing.  Even in the dream she felt everything stop as
hands explored her body.
   He kissed her shoulder then her neck.  "I know what you are."
   Talia forced her focus away from the caress rising inside her thigh. 
"But do you know what I want?"
   "Speak the words and make it so."
   "I want you to keep touching me."
   For a dream, the sensation overrode her other senses.  His fingers eased
between her legs, back and forth between her labia.  Tingle seemed like
such a silly word except for that moment, it was a truly a effervescent
warm and sensuality spreading from his fingers through her body.
   Two of his fingers parted her labia, sliding up.  "Here?"
   Talia whimpered and widened her stance.  "Yes."
   Someone called her name.  It sounded far away, as if under water or
muffled by a wall.
   Therefore the call was easily ignored.
   The second time it was a little louder, closer.
   Go away, Talia thought.
   The shadow eased back from her.  "Something summons you."
   She sighed.
   The voice bellowed her name once more and the world around them vibrated
with the force of it.
   "Fuck!" Talia began the curse in her dream and finished it awake in her
bed.  Her night shirt, sheets, pillow were all sweat soaked.
   "Talia!" A fist pounded on the door.
   "Coming, damn it!" Talia snatched the door open.  She shrank back as she
realized it wasn't her sister on the other side.
   "You cursing me?" Her mother scowled and stepped into the room.  "It's
hotter than hell in here.  Keep this door unlocked.  You were having a bad
dream."
   "Um, no, I wasn't."
   "You were," she hissed.  "Bad dreams." She marched over and turned on
the AC unit.  "You invite them here, keeping it so hot.  They like heat,
reminds them of home.  Is that what you want?  Hosts of hell ripping you to
pieces?" She snarled and backed away.  "You smell like cunt.  Clean your
fucking room."
   "Mom!" Talia's sister, Sharon hurried into the room.  "Mom, back in your
room."
   "Shut the fuck up, girl.  It's feeding.  I can see it.  She needs
sleeping pills for the nightmares.  I told you--"
   "Speaking of pills, when was the last time you took yours?" Sharon put
her arm around her waist and walked her out the room.
   "Fuck that shit.  You trying to drug me, ungrateful bitch.  Spend my
whole life caring for you and this is what I get?"
   "Oh, like drugging me when I was a little girl?  Talia doesn't need..."
   Talia blocked out the rest.  The effects of his touch still lingered,
and all of her moisture was not sweat.  She grinned at her mother's
ravings. Smells like cunt.  She peeled off the damp night shirt and tossed
it into the hamper.
   Sharon returned to Talia's room.  "Sorry about that.  I needed to run an
errand.  I thought she'd still be sleep.  I've got an early shift, are you
going to be here all day?  I can call Rebecca or Carson."
   "No, I'm going to head out.  Just need a shower."
   "Keep your phone on you.  I'll call when you can head back."
   Talia nodded and turned the AC off on her way to the shower.
   ***
   Brian stumbled out of his room and snatched up the journal on the end
table.  He finger combed his hair out the way and turned to the next empty
page.  For several minutes he focused only on writing, recording each
detail, each moment.  The writing slowed as his memory failed him.  He
paused and furrowed his brows in thought.  "Fuck!"
   "What's up?" Michael looked up from his book.
   "I had it.  I heard it.  Something summoned her and I heard the name."
   "What?  Who?" He walked over to the couch and sat down beside him.
   "The seer, the woman who ...  I met her a couple years back.  She's not
quite a guide, but she helps me.  She's ...  like a decadent dessert. 
Remember that business with Karl?"
   "Mm hmm."
   "She helped me with that, even goes on a few joy rides with me.  I can't
quite figure her out, but she fascinates me.  If I could summon her..."
   "What did you hear?"
   "Something smooth, an L sound.  It sounds like, like ah, ah," He snapped
his fingers in rapid succession.  "What's that chick's name, the one who
played in the vampire movie, died in a plane crash?"
   "Aaliyah?"
   "Yeah, close, but tighter.  Alia.  Fuck!"
   "You could always ask her next time."
   "Yeah, next time." Brian huffed.  "Our meetings have been getting
further apart.  Alia ...  Alia ...  Kalia?  Malia?  No." Brian lowered his
head and muttered through the alphabet.  "Talia?  Is that even a name?"
   "I've never heard it before." Michael said.
   "Forget it," Brian stood up and stretched.  "When you get in, man?"
   "Couple hours ago.  Rita was about to make a breakfast run.  You in?"
   Brian nodded.  "She knows my order.  Who else downstairs?"
   "Jyasta, Igarashi.  We don't have anything planned until noon."
   "All right, good.  I'll be done with this before she gets back."
   ***
   Rita sat in front of David with her legs spread.  She pointed to the
inside of her thigh.  "Once it gets to about here, I want it to curl around
the front."
   "Head or tail?" David asked.
   "Head.  I want the tail going down.  Make it peak out at the calf."
   David nodded and looked up.  "Morning Brian."
   Brian nodded.  "You have a package waiting for you upstairs.  I put it
under the side table.  What the hell is it?"
   "Big?"
   "Yeah," said Brian.
   "That would be my table.  The adjustment on this one is smoother."
   Rita did a little dance.  "Can I be the first on it?"
   "Make sure you sanitize it after," said Brian.
   Rita stuck her studded tongue out at him.  "I put your order on the
counter."
   "Thanks." Brian went over and grabbed his ham, bacon, and sausage
omelet. He perched on the stool and dug in.
   Jyasta sat on the stool beside Brian with a cheshire grin.  "Do you
remember Heidi?"
   Brian nodded.  Heidi tended to show up on the occasional weekend.  She
looked fit.  Danced well.
   "Invite her to dinner."
   Brian covered his half-full mouth.  "Why me?"
   "Because it wouldn't be a date otherwise."
   He shook his head.  "I don't want to date Heidi."
   "Why not?  I've seen you staring at her."
   Staring at her was one thing.
   "I know she's a karja, but she was born on this side."
   "That's not it."
   "Then what is it?"
   The door opened and Igarashi's father walked is.  Igarashi groaned and
palmed his face.
   Brian set his finished breakfast aside and nodded to the tall man. 
"Sir."
   "This your house?"
   "Yes, my name is Brian Umbra."
   "Igarashi tells me you know about him."
   "This is a safe place for him.  For all of us."
   The distinguished man lifted one of his brows and took a closer look at
Brian and the house.  "How do you keep a place like this safe?  I just
walked right in."
   "Yes, sir, I know that." Jyasta waved from the stool.  "I'm what keeps
this place safe."
   "And who are you?"
   "Jyasta is an ally."
   She ruffled Igarashi's hair.  "Don't you worry about your son.  I
promise to take very good care of him." She moved Igarashi's hand and
kissed him on the cheek.
   "Are you crazy?" Igarashi squealed as he tried to get away from her.
   Brian walked over to the older man.  "He's safer here than anywhere else
in the city.  The others that come here are allies and I vouch for them. 
When we do have problems, and we do, they are dealt with quietly.  I'll
give you my information."
   After Igarashi's father left, Jyasta changed gears immediately.  "Gary,
set an extra place for dinner this Friday."
   "You're inviting my dad?" Igarashi looked pained by the prospect.
   "No, Brian's bringing a date."
   "I told you I don't want to invite her!" Brian snapped.
   Jyasta marched over to him and put her finger in his face.  "I don't
think I heard you."
   Michael whistled and inserted his body between them.  "I agree with you,
Jyasta.  He's getting edgy, but Heidi isn't a good match."
   "You got a better one?"
   "Yes."
   "Fine." She spun on her heels and went back to harassing Igarashi.
   "You do?" Brian said.
   Michael set a piece of parchment and a charcoal stick on the counter. 
"No, but you do.  If she's what you want, then give it a shot.  Jyasta
isn't going to stop, and she makes a good point.  When you go dark, there
are few sane options."
   "When and if I go dark I'll just cross over."
   "You can't run a business like that.  At least try."
   "Don't I get into enough trouble without inviting more?"
   "You seem to handle it just fine.  You want her, don't you?"
   Brian felt more than wanting.  He ached.  Each time he woke from his
time with her he felt a sense that he was going to lose her.  That she was
getting further away rather than closer.  He had to know.  Brian pulled the
items toward him.  "Bring me some of your redwood oil."
   -_ Discovery _-
   Talia set off toward home, but construction blocked her normal route. 
Along her detour, she had to step off the sidewalk to get around a beat up
truck, dented, the bumper hanging off.  On the other side, large glass
ornaments decorated a floral garden.
   She stood on the sidewalk staring at the colorful ornaments, some of
them were as large as a beach ball.  She'd never been down this street
before and yet she felt like she'd seen something like this.
   A car horn blared.
   "Come on," Sharon yelled out the window.
   Talia hurried to the passenger side of the car, held captive while
Sharon ran errands.  Lethargy pulled on her, but with Sharon's gabbing and
the uncomfortable car, she couldn't get to sleep.
   Sharon pulled out her phone.  "Yes.  What do you mean you're canceling
the appointment?  She needs to see her doctor.  I'll have to check my
schedule."
   When they finally pulled up to the house Talia sighed with relief. 
Finally she could get a nap in, she was so sleepy it was beginning to hurt.
   A bottle of pills crashed against the wall, spilling little yellow
tablets all over the floor.
   "Poison me with that shit!" Their mother slurred.
   "Fuck!" She pointed at Talia.  "Grab your shit and get back in the car."
   ***
   According to the phone calls Sharon made along the drive, Talia was
headed to a party.  Worse, her sister assigned the hosts' younger brother
to watch over her.
   "Really?" Talia rolled her eyes.
   "You guys are the same age.  Just make an effort, damn.  What are you, a
lesbian?"
   "I don't want to be here.  I'm tired of being hooked up with some random
loser.  I don't need a babysitter.  How many times do I have to tell you
these things?"
   "I hear you, but I shouldn't have you out here at all.  You know what
the alternative is.  I'm trying to help you make a fucking friend.  Just
get to know the guy at least."
   Talia trudged into the party behind Sharon.  There were a fair amount of
people laughing, dancing, drinking, and making out.
   Sharon, her usual radiant self, walked in to a chorus of greetings and
hugs and kisses.
   Talia slipped to the side, navigated her way deeper into the house.
   "Hey, Talia, right?" The tall lanky boy grinned at her.
   Talia kept her eyes closed and settled into her meditative posture. 
Just twenty minutes, she'd feel much better.
   "Mind if I sit beside you?"
   Talia didn't acknowledge him.
   "I'll take that as a 'I don't give a fuck as long as you stop fucking
with me'."
   Her cheek twitched with a slight smirk.
   "Listen, my name is Edward, and yeah, I'm Greg's younger brother.  I
didn't choose that prick.  From the look of it, you're trying to meditate
in a house full of drunken retards.  I admire the spunk.  Here's the thing,
I'm not going to keep you somewhere you don't want to be.  I know a place,
it's not far from here.  We can chill there until the party is over.  It's
a cool place, relaxing, people like us."
   She opened her eyes and looked Edward over.  "Somewhere quiet, away from
here?" Through her sudden yawn she said, "Do I look stupid?"
   "I'm talking to you because you don't.  You really want to zone out
here?"
   "Edward, right?"
   He nodded.
   "I've done this plenty of times, all I need is a quite spot.  You have
some where in the house like that?"
   "Ah, it's pretty quiet in my bedroom upstairs."
   "Right," she stood.  A bed sounded grand.  "I'll go up there and lock
myself in." She saluted him before taking off.  "Nice meeting you, Ed."
   ***
   The rusted skeleton of a truck cast a shadow as far as she could see
down the street.  She followed the shadow to a tree stump big enough to sit
four people on.  Painted on the stump was a black circle with a gray
shadow, almost like an eclipsed moon.  The stump sat in front of a large
castle.  At least, the roof of the house reminded her of a castle with its
high points and iron decoration.
   "This time, I found you."
   Talia smiled as his dark presence bled into the dream.  "Whatever shall
you do with me?" The sentence was barely out of her mouth.  She gasped at
the sudden rush of warmth through her body.
   "Whatever I please," he hissed.
   It wasn't quite like being touched or kissed, but all of the feelings
were there, physically vague but emotionally sharp.
   He eased away, circled her like the shadowy wisp that he was.  "Where is
your realm, Talia?  I want to be inside you.  Tell me how."
   It was the first time he'd ever said her name.  It had to be because
hearing it caused her body to hum.  She felt like a little girl just aching
to squeal.  He wanted to have sex with her?
   "I ...  what do you mean by realm?"
   "When you're not here."
   "Um," she laughed.  "Real life I guess."
   "I want to know you there."
   "I wish I could know you there too," she relaxed into his body and felt
him holding her.
   "Wishing can make it so.  Follow the signs and find the dragon.  Listen
closely."
   "Listening."
   "Brian Umbra.  Hold the name in your mind.  Find Brian Umbra.  I want
you, Talia.  Find me."
   ***
   "Brian Umbra." Talia whispered the words, but she reached for a piece of
paper anyway.  Words and numbers were the first things to fade from memory.
   Signs?  What dragon?  Why were those familiar?  Talia held both sides of
her head as she searched her memory.
   She grabbed her diary and flipped through the pages.
   'This truck had a for sale sign.  It looked just like the one where I
found my dark dream boyfriend.'
   Talia felt the hair on her arms stand on end.  He wasn't real, that
wasn't possible.
   But if he was ...  but if it were...
   Talia once dreamed of real people all the time.  She'd visited her new
elementary school a week before going for orientation.  It used to happen
more often than that when she was younger, but when her mother started
freaking out, Talia stopped talking about it, and the dreams of real people
and places become rarer and rarer.
   Like her dreams of him.
   Brian Umbra.  She needed to find a directory.
   ***
   Talia began her walk to the library until she found the detour created
by the ongoing construction.  Then she arrived at the place Sharon picked
her up.  The old truck was still there.  It still had the sign in the
window.
   Across the block several glass ornaments decorated the yard.  They were
large, circular, and had a metallic sheen to the glass.  Down the block
several tall trees created a canopy: shadows.
   Once she was under the canopy she looked around.
   A massive tree with purple black leaves.  Her stomach fluttered, heart
rate increased.  Was this real?  Was she dreaming again?
   She couldn't remember what came next, but she walked up the street,
pausing to look down every cross road, but she didn't get any sense of
finding her next sign.  She turned around and looked again.  The stone
bench caught her attention for a second time, but it wasn't as strong as
the others.
   It was better than anything else, so she walked toward the house.  It
was sitting out in front yard.  It looked normal for the most part.
   Except for those stairs.  Along the side of the house there were stairs
leading down to the basement.  Talia walked over to the landing.  Ornate
iron railing leading down to a lower floor.  This was a house, not a
business.  What was she going to say?  Sorry?  I think I dreamed I was
supposed to come here?
   Talia chewed on the tip of her thumb.  She didn't walk this far to head
back home.  That was for sure.
   The main door was open, there was a screen door.  Beyond it she saw
three people on a couch.  The woman in the middle was flipping through a
book while the two males looked over her shoulder.
   Over the wall behind the couch there was a symbol, a dark circle with a
silver crescent around it with the word 'Umbra' written under it.
   Talia pushed open the screen door and stepped inside.
   Every eye in the room turned toward her.  It was just like those scenes
in the movie when an outsider comes into the wrong bar.  Even the music
seemed quieter.
   A dark skinned woman with dark blue eyes, long black hair, wearing a
silver dragon emblem around her neck got right in her face.  "This isn't
the arcade, kid.  Get the fuck out."
   Talia shrank away, but she didn't run for the door.  The center piece of
the room was a massive tree stump glazed and shined, prepared for use as a
table.  Follow the signs.  Find the dragon.  Umbra.
   "I'm ...  Brian told me to come here." Please let him be real.
   She took another step toward Talia and called out.  "Brian!"
   A door opened, but Talia couldn't see the person that entered the room.
   "I got this," the strange man's voice said.
   The dragon lady moved and Talia saw the man in the doorway.  He had a
scruffy weekend look to him.  His darkness wasn't due to his skin color,
but his ink black hair was plenty dark.  He looked to be in his late
thirties.  Talia didn't recognize him, but he felt familiar, almost like
all the things she'd been passing to get to this house.
   That name the dragon lady called out.  She'd said Brian ...  her eyes
darted to the word Umbra under the symbol.
   Talia waved, wiggling her fingers.  "Hi.  I'm Talia."
   There was a whisper from the couch.
   Brian looked her over and nodded.  He beckoned her with the crook of his
finger.
   Her heart pounded as she walked over to him.  He pulled out a chair and
sat across from her, their knees less than an inch apart.
   "Is this really happening?" She leaned forward and dropped her voice to
a whisper.  "I mean ...  do you know why I'm here?"
   He leaned forward until their noses were touching.  The peculiar
movement jarred her.  He was behaving just the way the shadow did in her
dream.
   Talia sat up.  No, this couldn't be him.  She had to hear him say the
words.
   "You are a dream walker.  I am a," He grinned.  "Think of me as a shadow
mage.  It's not so unusual for our paths to cross.  We each appear
differently there.  Dream walkers are often restricted to the dreamworld,
but a shadow mage can cross from there to the netherworld or to the land of
the sun." He chucked.  Probably at her blank expression.  "I had no idea
you were so close."
   Talia fidgeted as she looked around the large room.  "Me neither," she
breathed.  She knew things about him, done things with him.  Were those
real or just dreams?  What did he mean by realms?
   "You were convinced you were always dreaming."
   Talia nodded.
   Brian pulled her chair until his thighs were bracketing hers.  He put
his arms around her shoulders and kissed her on the cheek.  His lips
brushed the lobe of her ear.  "I'm very glad you were not a dream.  I can
have so much fun with you now."
   "Me?" She squeaked.  "Innocent me?" The words were meant to be 'little
me', but innocent seemed to drive the point home better.
   "Hardly," his voice took on a husky quality.
   Talia's cheeks burned and being so close to him made her drip sweat down
the sides of her body.  How was she going to break it to him that the woman
she dreamed of being was nothing like the girl she was?
   Maybe she didn't have to.  She shouldn't have come here now, and she
would never have to come back.  Wherever this place was, whoever this man -
a grown man, Talia, not even in college - was, it was probably best if she
stayed away from it.  Murder, sex, and magic were for dreams.
   She peeled herself away from him.  "I ...  should go."
   "See you later, Talia."
   ***
   Brian leaned back in the chair and as the young woman all but ran for
the door.  Cute thing.  Even after the sound of her footfalls on the iron
stairs faded, he was still thinking of her trembling, nervous, smelling of
sweat and trepidation.
   Jyasta smacked him on the shoulder.  "Who in the fuck was that?"
   "Remember the entity you warned away from here last week?  The same one
I stopped you from attacking?"
   "But she," Jyasta cast a look toward the door.
   "I've known her for a few years.  Clearly unsupervised."
   "Years?  Oh.  Okay," Jyasta grinned.  "Nice.  I'm shocked you've held
off on feeding from her this long."
   "I just met her, and I'm not holding off on anything.  Whatever happens
to her will be my doing, understood?"
   "Your catch; your kill." Jyasta saluted him and walked away.
   Michael was looking at Brian with his head cocked to the side in
question.
   Brian didn't answer the look.
   -_ Broken Home _-
   Talia stared out her bedroom window.  Her eyes were unfocused.  Cars
passed.  Feral cats darted from the shadows.
   Sharon and her mother were fighting in the hallway.  Her mother's usual
rants started to take on a different meaning.
   Can't leave her unprotected.
   They attack while you're sleeping.
   Dreams eat away at you until nothing is left.
   "I saved you.  You need to let me save her.  It's been too long and I
won't leave this world knowing what I've done."
   Sharon told Talia what the 'cure' was like.  Sick for weeks, fed poison,
puking and in pain.  Sharon had been protecting Talia from that same fate
since she was thirteen years old.  Unfortunately, that protection from
their mother turned to care for her as her madness became debilitating.
   The screaming match turned physical, and Talia knew Sharon would be the
victor in that one.  Sharon got her strength wrestling their mother down
whenever she was in the midst of one of her episodes.
   This was Talia's fault.  Sharon had told her to get out the house, but
Talia stayed home, thinking no one would notice if she stayed in her room
all day.  Her mother knew.  She had a keen sense of Talia's presence. 
Talia didn't leave because she knew that if she did, she'd walk straight to
the Umbra house, and that wasn't a good place for her.
   Was it a worse place than here?
   Maybe Brian didn't know she was underage.  Maybe if she just told him
he'd back off.
   Talia pouted.  Well, she didn't exactly want that either.
   Sharon pounded on her door.
   Talia unlocked the door and stumbled backward as Sharon advanced on her,
panting and angry.
   "What the fuck were you doing here?!"
   "I--" Talia wasn't able to finish her excuse before the blow landed.
   ***
   Talia eased toward the opening of basement door.  She looked down the
hallway then ducked back into the stairwell.  The stairwell had been lit
when she crawled up, but now the lights were out.  In the hallway the
creatures she'd spied were clattering past the door.
   "Brian?" She whispered.
   "Why didn't you go in?"
   "Um, those skeleton cat things.  They're dangerous."
   "Dangerous?  Hardly."
   "Feels dangerous, but probably not as bad as you."
   Brian chuckled.  "Sometimes the point isn't to get away, but to get
inside.  Get closer.  You should stop running."
   "Why would I want to do that?  My bad dreams are bad enough without
looking for danger."
   "The dreamworld is where all things are created and it is there it can
be destroyed.  Your 'bad' dreams should be one of conquest not evasion." He
smacked her on the bottom.  "Go on."
   Talia reached for the door but closed it, throwing them back into
darkness.  "I can't do this."
   She didn't hear him move, but she didn't have to, she felt him draw
closer, listening.
   "Dreams eat away at you until nothing is left." Her mother's voice
answered.  The sound of her voice came from everywhere as if she lived in
the walls of the house.  "She's cursed and now the only cure is death."
   Each memory felt tugged from her mind, with his fingers pulling the
string.
   No sense in hiding it then.  Reality had infected her dreams.
   Talia said, "A friend of my mom's said she spent more time dreaming than
awake.  What if getting closer is how I end up like her?  Heading toward
insanity?  My mother thinks I'm some kind of beacon of evil.  My sister
sees me as a burden."
   Talia wiped her face in the dark.  She groaned as sorrow welled up from
the basement floor.  It was wet and cold, soaking her clothes and making it
hard to breathe.  The darkness stifled like a damp cloud.
   Brian shifted until he was behind her.  He took her hand and placed it
on the surface of the gelatin thick substance surrounding them.  "Embrace
your fears like you embrace your sadness."
   "What are you?" She whispered.
   "Whatever I need to be."
   "Are you ...  is it true?  Am I going insane?"
   "Use your judgement, Talia.  Forget the fear and worry.  Results, even
in the dreamworld.  Look not at what you're given, but what you get.  Who
is driving you towards this despair?  Who is pushing you to be stronger?"
   She shrugged slightly.
   "If something were eating away at you," he wrapped himself around her
body and the flood receded, replaced by his distinct sensation, heavy yet
yielding.  "You'd know it," he hissed.
   ***
   Though Talia dreamed of him, she didn't go back to that house.  She had
her own livelihood and chores and sorrow to deal with.  Weeks later a
stressful day turned into another stressful night of terror.
   The dream darkened, sounds and sights were out of sync.  These were her
first signs that her dream was about to turn south.  She needed to wake up
or change her surroundings.  Talia didn't want to wake up, and she was too
tired to change the dream.  She continued on.
   The ground trembled and cracks opened in the ground.  Large insect
looking creatures with curled snouts crawled up from the cracks.  She ran
for the nearest rock and hid behind it.
   The insects took to the air.  One of them shrieked when it spotted her.
   She dashed from her hiding place, but didn't get far.  The curled snout
straightened and the biggest needle she'd ever seen neared her arm.
   She screamed.  She knocked the needle aside but other insects landed,
stood on her.  She was held down as the one with the extended snout came
closer.  The needle dug into her bone, sending lighting bolts of pain
through her body.
   She made an effort to wake up, to change the dream, but the pain kept
her from concentrating.  It felt like a drill running up her spine.  She'd
just destroy the dream.  She tried to bring the entire world down on
herself, make it all go away.
   Two hands framed her face.  The nightmarish giant mosquitos were gone.
All was darkness.  Even the pain was gone.  Talia was sure she was still
dreaming, but only just.
   "Talia, when you wake up, come see me.  Consider it an order, if you
must."
   ***
   Talia went back to the Umbra house.  It was that or find out if her
latest nightmare would be a recurring one.
   The dragon woman stared daggers at her from the moment she stepped in
the door.  It had been over a minute, others had gone back to what they
were doing, but not her.  She was a human surveillance camera.
   Talia walked over to her.  "Have I done something to offend you?"
   "Absolutely," she answered with a brilliant smile.  "Will you pay for
your offense?"
   "What offense?  Who are you?"
   "I am Jyasta.  You offend me by your presence, by knowing him.  I saw
the way he touched you.  You know he could get into trouble.  You aren't
that stupid."
   "It's not like that, not here." Not anywhere, really.
   "Not here," she mocked in a higher pitched voice.  "There's a lot about
'here' you aren't ready for, little girl.  This is a soft spot, and fresh
meat is richly valued." She leaned forward and reached out to touch her. 
"Something has taken a chunk out of you already, hasn't it?"
   "I don't grant you permission to touch me." Talia spoke the words in a
rush as she took a step back from Jyasta.  Something about the woman
unnerved her.  While Brian felt worse than most things in her bad dreams,
Jyasta felt worse than the things that 'took a chunk out of her.'
   Jyasta giggled, but drew her hand back.
   Brian walked over and Jyasta scowled.
   "Brian get your cradle candy and tell her to stay the fuck away from me.
I don't give a fuck how old she is, I'll rip her limbs and feed off her
blood."
   Talia stared at Jyasta with wide eyes.
   "Don't look at me like that cunt.  Get the fuck on.  I catch you in my
realm again and your permission will mean fuck all to me.  I will destroy
you."
   Brian drew Talia away with a sigh.  "So you and Jyasta had a nice chat."
   "Why did she say all that?  Does she think that you and I are together
or something?"
   "Or something," Brian chuckled.  "She's a ...  She takes getting used
to. Don't worry, it was a nice chat.  Other people have walked away with
worse than a tongue lashing."
   "You know I'm sixteen right?"
   "Now, I do." Brian opened a door and led into a barren brick room. 
There were no windows and no other door.  The air felt cooler, but that
wasn't the only change.  She looked up and around.  She could see the
walls, the floor, ceiling, but there were no wires, no lighting, nothing.
   "Why can I see?"
   "You're a dream walker, one who has tagged along with me to places you
probably wouldn't have gone on your own.  Now you've gotten so that you're
going there all alone.
   "The light source is in the netherworld.  This is a soft spot, and it's
what makes my house so interesting.  It was built over the thinning of the
veil, both to protect it and use it."
   "Jyasta said that, about the soft spot.  What does any of that mean? 
Netherworld, thinning of the veil?"
   "You'll see." Brian stepped to the door and waved someone in.  A beefy
tall man walked into the room.  "Talia, this is my friend Michael. 
Michael, Talia."
   "Can she see?"
   "Yup, just the light though."
   His eyes widened as if he were surprised to hear that.  "She's touched
then?"
   "Definitely." Brian turned to her.  "Do you know how to meditate?"
   "Yes."
   "Do that.  I want you to go into a trance."
   "Because?" She looked nervously between Brian and Michael.  Why had she
agreed to be locked in a room with two full grown men.  When had she ever
been so careless?
   "Because you need to work on your defenses.  I thought you were just
being conservative, but you don't use them at all.  Explains you being so
young though."
   Working on her defenses didn't make her feel any better.  "What do you
mean?" Talia took a few steps closer to the door.
   Brian stepped in front of her and put his finger under her chin.  "Do
you want to end up like your mother?"
   His question was like a shock of cold water.  "No."
   "Sit.  Meditate, I'll talk you into a trance."
   "I'm scared," she whispered.
   "You should be," he whispered back.  "You should be afraid of what will
happen to you if I am unable to answer your distress call."
   Talia sat in the middle of the room.  She felt more like fainting than
meditating.  Who tells someone they should be afraid?  Didn't he understand
that she was afraid of him?
   "Close your eyes.  Take deep breaths."
   Talia closed her eyes and let Brian talk her through imagining a
protective shell around her.
   "Tell me when you think you've got it tough as you can make it."
   "I think it is."
   "Attack her," Brian said.
   She didn't have time to ask what he meant.  Something crashed into her
from the left and sent a jarring buzz through her body.  She cried out and
balled into a knot on her side.
   Brian helped her up.
   "What did you do to me?" Talia sniffled and looked around.  She rubbed
her arms and legs, but didn't find any injuries.
   Michael was leaning against the wall.  He couldn't have been the thing
that slammed into her.  It had sounded and looked like a wolf: gleaming
fangs, brown fur, extended claws...
   "Try again."
   "What?  Are you serious?"
   "Yes." Brian looked at his watch.  "You have five minutes."
   "What was that?" Talia asked, but she got back into a meditative
posture. She'd interacted with him enough to know that the shadow in her
dreams and the Brian standing in the room with her were indeed very much
the same kind of person.  Questions about what attacked her could come
later, if she survived.
   He called the attack two more times, and each time she failed to defend
herself with the shell.  It only held the thing off for a few seconds. 
When Brian called the thing to attack her a third time, she didn't bother
keeping the shell up.  She tried to hit it instead, to see if she could
launch one of her pushes just like she could when dreaming.
   There was a loud thump, and the 'attack' never landed.
   "Good.  We're done here."
   Talia opened her eyes and wiped the sweat from her brow.  For a moment,
everything looked similar to a dream, fluid and malleable.  She saw the
sconces in the corners of the room, the tunnel, a shadowed figure near the
door, and some kind of furry demonic creature in the corner.
   Talia briskly shook her head and rubbed her eyes.  Wake up!  When she
opened her eyes again it was a brick room with a single door, and Brian and
Michael...
   Michael was using the wall to support himself as he got to his feet.
   "What the fuck just happened?" Talia breathed.  Her whole body shuddered
as if she'd knocked back three shots of espresso.
   "You learned that a good offense is the best defense and Michael learned
not to underestimate you."
   "Yeah, but ...  I mean, I wasn't asleep, but for a moment I wasn't
here."
   "You were always here.  The veil dropped for a second."
   "Is he," Talia looked at Michael.  "Are you what I saw?"
   He walked over and extended his hand.  "Welcome to the Umbra.  Wraith
touched are welcome, but make sure he teaches you what that means.  All
right?"
   Talia nodded.  "Um, wait."
   Michael and Brian paused before leaving the room.
   "I ...  could I practice how to do something if I can't move my hands?
That thing I did, it was throwing energy.  I couldn't do that last night,
so..."
   Brian gestured to Michael.  "You hold her."
   "Hold me?" Talia startled as Michael grabbed her by the wrists.  "Why?"
   "Good point.  You should learn to use your mind alone."
   ***
   "Isn't that library you go to open 24 hours?" Sharon asked.
   "No, that's the book store with the cafe in it."
   Sharon opened her wallet and handed her a twenty dollar bill.  "Go."
   "Mom's coming back?"
   "No.  She's gone and I'm having a party.  Since you hate being 'hooked
up', then you can go.  I can't handle this shit right now.  Mom will be
back tomorrow."
   "Thanks," Talia pocketed the cash and went to get a bag together.  The
last place she wanted to be was the book store.  Would they mind if she
chilled at The Umbra?  If she couldn't sleep over, then there was always
the book store as a backup plan.  It was probably the night of their
dinner. Brian had mentioned it, but he didn't say if she was invited or
not.
   Talia walked to the Umbra house.  It seemed pretty quiet so she went
downstairs and let herself inside.
   Brian came down the steps and signaled her over.
   "Hi."
   "Hi." He took her bag and set it aside.  "Hungry?"
   "Yes."
   Brian didn't ask for excuses or wait until she tried to offer one.  He
walked her over to the long dining table.  It looked as if they had just
sat down moments ago the clean plates in front of them.  Brian pointed to
the people around the table.  "You've met Michael and Jyasta.  This is
Igarashi, Chase, Gary, David, and Rita." He pulled out the only empty
chair. "Have a seat.  You're just in time."
   Jyasta looked to be barely containing her displeasure.
   Brian left the room and returned with a drink.  It didn't look like
water or soda.  She took a sip from the glass.  Definitely alcohol.  It
wouldn't be her first alcoholic drink, but everyone in the room had to know
she was too young for it.
   "How come she gets to be here?" Igarashi asked.
   "Fuck if I know." Jyasta said.
   "Because I say she can," Brian answered.
   "Not the fucking point."
   The serving bowls were passed along the table.  Talia kept her head down
and ate her food.
   Why didn't Brian explain that they weren't together?  Or what about what
Michael had said about her being touched?
   "This gives me an idea," Brian said.  "Chase, Gary, can either of you
travel?"
   "A little, but I can't control it," Chase answered.
   "I don't think so," said Gary.
   "A dream walker could help with that.  It'll be good practice."
   "Where the fuck did you find a dream walker?" Jyasta snorted.  "They are
too schizo to..." Jyasta's words slowed.  She looked across the table to
Talia.  Her head whipped toward Brian with a 'are you kidding' expression.
   Brian smirked at her and took a sip from his drink.  "Last time I
checked, wraith touched of any age are allowed in my home."
   Talia swallowed the food in her mouth.  She lifted her head the
slightest bit and looked around the table.  Jyasta wasn't the only one
visibly surprised by the turn of conversation.  "What does that mean ... 
wraith touched?"
   "Influenced by the likes of him," Michael inclined his head toward
Brian. "Or me or J or Iggy."
   "But what are you?"
   "Different." Brian answered.  "We're different."
   -_ Friends _-
   After dinner Brian walked her down the hall and into a bedroom. 
Everyone else had gone to lay down as well in preparation for this shared
dream experience Brian proposed.  "You are the maker of your own reality.
All of us have that, it's the nature of reality.  Your gift is to see that
reality in a different way, to see the ways it can be shaped.  Your talent
is strong, but no good to you unless you hone your skills."
   "What skills?"
   "Changing other dreams.  You're going to cause Chase and Gary to dream
if they aren't, and become lucid in that dream.  Two should be a great
start.  You then find a place you enjoy, anywhere in any realm, some place
you feel safe.  Take Chase and Gary there, call to me, and I'll lead the
others to you."
   Talia held her hands out in front her.  "Whoa, what?  That all sounds
weird, not to mention ...  Make them dream?  I don't know if I can do
that."
   Brian leaned forward and kissed her.  Talia forgot all about her
complaints.  She'd never kissed him for real, never felt his hands on her
back and ass like they were now, firm, present.  She gasped for breath, but
he didn't stop.  The sound of her heart pounded in her ears and his tongue
eased in and out of her mouth.  When he sat back her clitoris felt as if it
were stinging.  Hot.  This was what it meant to be hot.
   "You don't have to know how.  You can do it.  Find them and bring them
into your dream.  All you have to do is enter a trance first.  Okay?"
   "Um, yeah."
   ***
   It wasn't as easy as Brian made it sound.  Convincing a person that he
was dreaming was difficult, but she eventually gathered both of them and
took them too her dream lake.  It was night time, the moon reflected off
the water.
   The light of the moon went out and the a dragon roared as it circled the
lake.
   This is my territory, Talia reminded herself.
   Another shadow swirled around her, a familiar one, Talia relaxed into
his embrace and felt the familiar hum of lustful energy swaying through her
body.
   "Oh, I see now," a growling voice said as a beast broke through the tree
line.  It had a tail, claws, but looked pretty much human.  It was as
humanoid a version of a werewolf as she'd ever seen.  Michael's tail wagged
as he looked her over.  "She's fucking gorgeous."
   "Yes," Brian caressed her neck.  "She is."
   Gorgeous?  What did she look like?  She didn't look normal?
   The dragon snorted and dived into the lake.
   "I don't even know how I did all this."
   "Like I said, you don't have to know for it to work."
   ***
   Talia smiled as Brian wrapped his arms around her waist.  She'd spent
the night with the house in her shared dream, the dream world she had
created.  It was like going on a camping trip.
   She had sex with Brian, as much as she could in a dream.  Maybe it was
because she'd never done the act before.  While it felt good, it didn't
feel physical.  She felt him inside her, but in her mind.
   Brian nuzzled her neck and rolled her until he was able to kiss her.
   She kissed him back and wrapped her legs around his waist.  It was
nothing like this, warm, wet, physical, weighted.
   You're awake now; behave yourself.
   But I don't want to.  I've already done this.  He won't hurt me.
   He'll do whatever you lead him to do.
   Talia kept kissing him, but pulled her leg back.  He rolled on top of
her and kissed his way down her neck.  His hands pushed up the ends of her
shirt.  When he prompted her to sit up she allowed him to remove her shirt.
He gathered her breasts and descended upon them, kissing and sucking one
then the other.
   "Morning gorgeous," he stretched out beside her and kissed her cheek.
   "Morning, ah ...  what time is it?" She checked the window, but it still
looked to be dark outside.
   "A little past four.  I want to take you some place different.  Share a
dream with me this time.  It will be a different realm though."
   "The netherworld."
   "Yes."
   She swallowed thickly.  "That's where those nightmares have been."
   "Yes."
   "Why do I want to go to some kind of field of nightmares and unending
torment?"
   "You are friends with nightmares and tormentors," he stretched his hand
out and slipped inside her panties.  "You are protected by a shadow
walker."
   "Threatened by dragons." Talia moaned as his fingers slid up and down
her labia, easing the sting of lust.  The voice of reason must have fallen
back asleep, because all she could think of was how much she didn't want
him to stop.
   "Jyasta controls her appearance in the dream realm; she is no dragon. 
She does that to be kind, a female wraith is a gorgeous creature."
   Talia sighed.  Dare she even ask?  "How do I get there?"
   "Let me take you.  Sleep now?"
   Sleep?  With his hands doing what they were, sleep was the last
suggestion she liked.  His fingers kept to their slow, almost languid pace
and Talia closed her eyes.
   "That's it.  Relax your body.  You'll travel, but not in dreams, between
worlds.  I'll pull you across the veil, and nothing will harm you."
   ***
   Talia knew the difference immediately.  The dream world seemed plastic,
random, flimsy, but this place had everything, all the senses in concert
along with that sense of magic and fluidity.  That's what made the
nightmares so terrifying and her ability to get out of them feeble.  The
trees reached hundreds of feet into the sky, long twirling vines trailed
down from the branches with bright green leaves and colorful flowers.  The
air felt damp, smelled pungent and fragrant - more rich than any forest
she'd ever visited.
   Brian waved his hand in front of her face.  "Welcome to Fitke Vale,
officially."
   A hairless thing with bulging eyes walked toward them.  It looked like
his skin had been boiled and rapidly cooled several times.  His jaw seemed
bigger, and he didn't have a nose, just two holes.  Talia backed into
Brian.
   "That's Igarashi," Brian whispered.
   "Follow," Igarashi said.  He led them through the forest along a thick
trail until they reached an overlook.  He touched two of the stones and
waited until they crossed the strange barrier before touching them again.
"All good."
   Brian sat on the grass and motioned for Talia to sit on his lap.  "You
are in a different world, like a dream, but different.  Like reality, but
different.  The netherworld is a vast place, like ours.  Just as dangerous,
if you take away the city structures."
   David and Rita giggled.  Talia looked over.  Thankfully, they both
appeared normal.  David had his hands all over her breast, his lips on her
neck.  Her eyes widened as their touching and kissing continued.  David lay
Rita on her back, opened her legs and kept his kisses descending down her
body until he paused between her thighs.
   Talia should have turned away, but she couldn't.  Her eyes were glued on
their exhibition.
   She ceased breathing an Brian's hand eased between her legs.  She went
lax against his chest, her legs opened.  Like a dream, but different. 
Talia didn't care, she acted on her feelings.  There were other sounds
around her, but she did not want to see what Igarashi was doing, with whom,
or how.  She kept her attention on David's erect penis as he positioned
himself just above Rita.
   She removed Brian's hand and turned in his lap.  "I want you."
   "Then take me."
   She unzipped, unfastened, tugged, and pulled until they were naked.  She
put Brian on his back and reached down for him.  The smallest voice
reminded her that she didn't know what she was doing, but that was in
another world, another plane.  She knew what she was doing, what she
wanted. Talia positioned him at her entrance and let herself eased down
onto his body.  There were moments of awkwardness, unsure, but she just let
her body decide, eased into her experimentation.
   Sex was like attending a concert, not for a band that she knew and
loved, but one that Talia wasn't sure about.  She would start off bobbing
her head, getting into the groove, but then somewhere along the line she
would be jumping in place, arms high overhead, swept along with the roaring
energy of the crowd.
   She let herself become swept away, rocking up and down, riding Brian as
if she were an expert, not a novice.  She leaned forward and dug both hands
into his hair, probed his mouth with her tongue.
   He made her heart soar.
   When she woke it was with an orgasm.  Brian was under the covers, her
legs draped over his shoulders, his tongue lapping at her pussy.
   She pushed the blanket back.
   He looked up with a grin.  "One more before you leave?"
   How could she resist an offer like that?  "Yes."
   ***
   Talia closed the front door and got a heavy feeling in her stomach. 
Something had happened in her absence.  Everything about Sharon's
expression, posture, the way she sat was not welcoming.
   "Where have you been?"
   "A friend's house.  You told me not to be home."
   "What friend, Talia?"
   Don't make this about me.  Sharon doesn't care about me.
   "Not one cool enough to be invited to your party.  How was it?  Did you
have a good turn out?"
   Sharon smirked and tapped her hand against her thigh.  "Yeah, it was
cool.  I mean, it was a little slow to get started.  After midnight people
started showing up.  It was a lot of fun working the room, making sure
everyone was enjoying themselves.
   "Len wanted me.  I've told you about that dog.  He wanted to get with
me. I mean, I've been with him before and it was good, but Jake dumped his
girlfriend and I've always wanted a chance with hem.  Plus Len can't give
me what I need right now.  I had to play it coy.  You know, what if Jake
finds someone else.  Can't burn bridges and all that.  I held him off, but
Jake left early and then Mom needed to be picked up." Sharon rolled her
eyes.  "I told you Mom would be back this morning."
   Talia shook her head.  Sharon hadn't said anything about that.  No. 
Wait.  Did she?
   "I had to clean up after my party and look after her.  They are talking
about putting her in a facility.  Do I look like I can do that?  I need to
have your help.  Do not stay out longer than I tell you to, damn it.  You
think I have the time to worry about you?"
   "No, I'm sorry.  Is there anything I can do now?"
   "Kitchen."
   Talia went straight to the kitchen and started on cleaning the dishes.
Sharon followed her, she leaned against the door, watching her.
   She packed the trash into the bag and prepared to take it out.
   "You look different," Sharon said.  "Mom says that you have this thing.
You can control--"
   "Mom says?  Really?  When did you start listening to Mom?"
   Sharon slapped Talia and the dish in her hand clattered to the floor. 
"Did you just fucking interrupt me?  You want to be out on the street?"
   "No, Sharon."
   "Remember who is keeping you out of a fucking foster home, you
ungrateful bitch!"
   "Sorry, Sharon.  I'm sorry.  I'm very thankful to have you."
   "Fuck you!  Of course you're sorry.  Don't tell me what I already know!"
Sharon stormed out of the kitchen.
   Talia cried, but bit down on her tongue to keep from being heard.  Her
face stung but her heart ached.  Sharon went from being a friend, to a
sister, to a bitch without any clear indication.
   ***
   Brian sat down to the table across from Cynthia.  "Let's see what you've
got."
   She took her cards out of the silk bag and began to shuffle them. 
"Handle them for me."
   "You sure that's best?" Brian asked as he pulled the deck toward him.
   "For you, yes."
   He smirked as he divided and rearranged the cards.  He handed them back
to her.
   "Do you have a question for me?"
   He shook his head.  "Give me whatever comes to you."
   Cynthia dealt the cards, placing each one, waiting a few seconds in
silence, then carrying on.  "This isn't about you, I think."
   "Tell me what you see, and we'll figure it out."
   "Two souls, trapped in misery.  The smaller one always loses.  A karmic
link, a battle being replayed until the lesson is learned.  The souls are
always close, never strangers."
   "How is the battle going this time?"
   "The same.  This one is coming to the end.  Violence, despair,
confusion. The losing soul is thin, but strong.  Weapons that haven't been
pulled." She shook her head.  "This all sounds like bullshit, doesn't it?"
   "Not at all.  You need to have more confidence.  I know you're being
more direct with me, but that's not going to work when you have a client.
There's nothing wrong with humility though.  Stay open.  Say what you see,
lay it bare."
   "I want to try something." Cynthia pulled another card.  "Oh," she
grinned.
   Brian leaned forward and smirked.  "Oh?"
   "Watch yourself.  This connection.  She's got a hold on you, and,"
Cynthia lowered her head and began to gather her cards.  "You know how you
feel, Brian," she whispered.  "I'm not saying this out loud."
   "I know it's dangerous.  Good.  You followed your instincts, let your
intuition lead.  Give a few readings outside the circle, people you know
nothing about.  I'm impressed with your progress."
   -_ Powers _The Umbra doubled its visitors on Saturday evenings.  The
music had everyone on the floor, everyone but Talia.  She had been trying
to pull away from the house and its residents.  She went to the party, but
seeing Edward there frightened her.  What if he saw her talking to them? 
Did he know what she knew?
   "Come over here," Brian walked Talia down toward the basement, but
pulled her into an alcove just before they reached the soft spot.  "What's
going on with you?"
   Talia shook her head and stared down at her shoes.
   He didn't say anything, didn't move.  While she was waiting for him to
change the subject, the silence between them stretched on.
   "Just my sister.  She's under a lot of stress with my mom's illness and
taking care of me.  It's was a bad day, that's all.  Guess I'm still down
about it."
   Brian grazed his finger over the bruise on her shoulder.  There wasn't
any way he could have seen it.  She'd worn her dress with the sleeves for
that reason.  "You can change that.  If you don't, the bad days are only
going to get worse."
   "Me?  This isn't a dream.  This is real life."
   Brian chuckled.  "You have been given a unique ability that turns
reality into a dream, if a bit less malleable.  You use it to see the
weaknesses, get information.  Learn to use your weapons."
   "Weapons?  You would think of it as a weapon."
   "You need to." He leaned down to kiss her.  His arm went around her
back. Talia melted into him.  For the moment she was lost in their kiss. 
She let her worry drift away as she made out with him.
   When he finally let up she was out of breath.  She leaned against the
wall for support.
   "When I get you to myself, I'm going to enjoy you from head to toe,
inside and out."
   Talia rubbed her cheek with her shoulder.  He wasn't mincing his words.
She didn't have any of her typical comebacks or flirtations.  This wasn't a
dream, but reality.  This was Brian, and he was serious.
   And probably old enough to be her father.
   "Unless you have a problem with that."
   "I wouldn't," Talia stressed, hinting at the trouble she'd get him into
if her sister found out.
   He winked and took her hand.  "Good talk.  Let's dance."
   She giggled as he dragged her out onto the dance floor.  He pulled her
into an embrace and she forgot all about his advance and danced her worries
away.
   ***
   After the party and the clean up, Brian convinced Talia to go dream
walking with them again.  It was one of the most fun nightmares she ever
experienced.  They played some demented version of paint ball but instead
of weapons each player had a missile they were able to throw, even Talia.
   While several people joined at left at random, Talia had been waiting
for Chase in particular.  He'd been the most thankful for being able to
control his dream travels.  He hadn't been at the party, but he knew when
they typically met up.
   She passed on the third round and play and went to find Chase.  Maybe
he'd forgotten.  The scene changed and she was standing over Chase's body.
He was in his apartment, unconscious, but not in bed.  He was on his floor.
Talia kneeled beside his body and reached out to touch him, but at the last
moment she drew her hand back.  Something was wrong.
   She woke herself and everyone in the house.  Before anyone could voice a
complaint, Talia explained.  "Chase is in trouble; something is wrong with
him.  Who does he live with?  He needs help."
   David rolled over and grabbed his keys.  "I'll go."
   Brian listened to the phone call with David and came back into the room.
"You were right.  He's at the hospital, but in a coma.  David said it
looked like he tried to make a deal with a Zorient for free passage."
   Everyone in the room seemed to understand that but Talia.
   Brian looked at Jyasta.
   "He's riddled with feeder hooks.  He might be alive, but it won't be
long.  I'd give him a week or two at best."
   Talia exhaled heavily.  "Zorient?  Hooks?  Where is he?  What's wrong?
Are you all going to use words I actually understand?"
   Brian turned to her.  "It's not good.  Hooks mean his soul is being
tormented.  Zorient are very influential people born in the netherworld
with influence in this realm.  Whatever he tried to do, he didn't just
fail, he's suffering for it."
   "Chase always had bigger ambition than talent," said Gary.
   Talia brushed the comment off.  That was no reason for him to die. 
"Okay, they are hooks.  Can they be removed?"
   Everyone in the room shook their heads.
   "It's too dangerous," said Brian.
   "He knew the risk," Jyasta added.  "It's his punishment to take.  Going
in to free him will get you fucked over in the process.  Don't go sticking
yourself in another person's fight."
   "The things we're doing can lead to death?  All of you know this?"
   Jyasta rolled her eyes.  "Everything leads to death, girl.  That's
called life."
   ***
   Talia made her excuses and said she'd go home, but Chase wouldn't leave
her thoughts.  She was the person that helped Chase learn to control his
dreams, encouraged him to keep up with his studies.
   She caught an early bus to the hospital and found his room.  Visiting
hours were over, so she had to sneak into his room.  There was one chair
over in the corner, she carried it to his bedside, took his hand and
entered a trance.
   The hospital faded into the background and a field came into view.  The
rattle of chains, led her to the web Chase was suspended from.  She walked
around Chase, stepping over and ducking under long ropes of chains.  There
were several hooks, varying in sizes, some as small as a safety pin and
others that looked as large as a trailer hook.
   Chase seemed unconscious even in this world.  Talia did another slow
circle, taking a close look at every hook.  Some of them seemed to go
through his bones and organs.
   He wasn't bleeding through either insertion point.  His skin stretched
in places that looked plenty painful.
   Talia tried to see what was different about the hooks, using her dream
sight, seeing the hooks as more than just metal through flesh and bone. 
Some of them went into his soul, creating a pain that seared and seethed
without end.
   She bounced and lifted into the air over the entangled chains.  Using
her mind, she shifted her body from one end to the other until she found
the first hook.
   She was surprised that all it took to remove the hook was to decide to
undo it.  It rattled and seemed to wiggle its way free.  Instead of falling
to the ground, it pulled away as if it were a living tentacle.
   Talia was tempted to apply this method to the rest of the hooks, but she
squashed the impulse.  She kept to the sense of it being a puzzle.  She
tamped down the exhilaration and rush of success.
   She'd cleared over ten hooks of various sizes by the time Chase showed
any sign of life.  He whimpered and his eyes fluttered open, but he didn't
speak.  His green eyes followed Talia as she chose the next hooks to clear.
Her anxiety only climbed.  It couldn't be this easy.  Why had she been
warned against this?
   Her answer came sooner than she wanted.
   Howls and snarls that seemed so far away as to be discounted as her
nerves began to grow closer.  It wasn't just a few animals either.  It was
as if the gates had been opened as a stampede of angry dogs were on the
march.
   She took another look at Chase's situation.  She needed to free him to
move, and the hooks paralyzing his arms were fewer than the ones on his
legs.  Talia said all of this out loud, pointed as she explained.  She
didn't know if he'd need to reach them.  If she could loosen them with her
mind maybe he could too.  She could see the beasts now and they were
nothing like dogs.
   She had to go.  Now.
   "Keep fighting, Chase.  Don't give up."
   Talia opened her eyes but something was wrong.  Pressure built and
burned in her lungs.  She wasn't breathing, as if she'd forgotten how.  Her
arms and legs wouldn't move as if paralyzed.  She trembled and dripped with
sweat seconds before she gasped.  Tears streamed down her face as she took
one sweet breath after another.
   Beside her, Chase remained unconscious.
   Talia's vision blurred; she gripped the arms of the chair.  The room
felt as if it were spinning, tilting.  As quickly as the sensation came
over her it faded.  She gave herself a minute just sitting before she went
to stand.  Her legs wobbled and dizziness overcame her.
   She lowered herself to the floor, her palms flat on the tiles to keep
herself up right.  Once she was able to get to her feet, she had to pause
several times along her walk, she felt something more sudden and unstable
than just drunk, and then after a few blocks she had to stop to catch her
breath.  The exhaustion was so acute it was painful.
   ***
   Talia got home on little sleep, not the restful kind.  She snuck into
the house, relieved that Sharon was at work.  She could hear her mother in
her room, but she quietly locked her door and eased into bed.  The
wonderful night with Brian, the terrifying morning with Chase, all of it
rattled around in her mind.
   When Talia opened her eyes the clouds in the sky had begun to take on a
pink lining.  Twilight was in its twilight.  She wiped her eyes and hugged
her pillow closer.  What if she hadn't helped Chase at all?  She'd need to
get out and see about him.
   "Talia!" Sharon yelled.
   Talia wiped her face and steeled herself for the confrontation.  She was
getting tired of her sister just as much.
   "Get out here!"
   "Coming." She walked out and winced at the overflowing garbage bag.
   "What the fuck is this about?" She pointed to the garbage.
   "I missed it when I got in."
   "And these dishes, you miss that too?"
   "I haven't washed them yet."
   "The lawn?"
   "I was going to do that today."
   "Today?  Today is over.  Why in the hell didn't you do it days ago?"
   "I," Talia sighed.  "I..."
   "Why damn it?!"
   "I wasn't home."
   "There was no reason for you to be out.  Where were you?"
   "I have a life too, you know?"
   "The fuck you do.  Clean this shit up.  I'm having company later. 
Everything!  I told you I wanted you to start cooking.  So you can start
with breakfast tomorrow."
   "I'm not your maid," Talia muttered, thinking that Sharon was out of ear
shot.
   Sharon was on her in a second.  She slammed Talia into the wall.  Trash
spilled out the bag and all over the floor.  She spun Talia around slapped
her hard enough to make her see stars.
   "I let it pass, you know.  You're going out seeing a boy, aren't you? 
You'd only be that stupid behind a prick.  You think I'm going to take care
of you when you get knocked up?  You better not be that fucking stupid.
   "Clean this kitchen.  Mop the floor.  Vacuum the house.  Mow the lawn.
If you think Mom is going to help you, just go in and take a look at that
sorry bitch.  She can't even help herself.  She'll be committed by the end
of the year.  I'm old enough to stay out the system.  You aren't.  I'm the
one taking care of your sorry ass.  Do you understand?" When Talia didn't
answer Sharon bellowed.  "Do you understand?!"
   "Yes, Sharon."
   -_ Missing _"Has anyone seen Talia?"
   Those gathered in the basement, Jyasta, Igarashi, David, and Michael,
shook their heads.
   The door opened and a weary Chase stepped through.
   Everyone kept still, staring at the person they'd written off as dead a
week ago.  Chase waved.  "Sucks, I was hoping to thank her."
   "Thank her?" Jyasta asked with a furrowed brow.
   Chase took slow steps over to a chair and sat down.  Michael fixed him a
cup of tea.  "She was at the hospital."
   "The hospital?  What the fuck, you aren't even supposed to be breathing
and you were still traveling?  You suicidal?" said Igarashi.
   Chase looked around and shook his head.  "Not like that.  She came to
me. She was there, fought for me.  It was terrifying."
   "Talia?" Brian's stomach dropped.  "She got the hook out?"
   "A few," Chase coughed.  "Enough.  Haven't see her since, here or
anywhere." Chase looked over his cup of tea to Brian's pallor and shook his
head.  "She got away in time, but I don't know.  I'm in no condition to go
looking for her, but I'd still be in a coma if it weren't for her.  I know
it.  I came over here as soon as they released me."
   "If she was going to show up tonight, then she would have been here, and
I've got to head out." He looked to Jyasta, "Whenever you see her, let her
know that I'll be out of reach until early morning.  I need her here when I
get back, understood?"
   Jyasta rolled her eyes and took on a deep look of disgust.  "Fuck off,
Brian.  You're not my daddy."
   "Thank goodness for small favors."
   The room giggled.
   "Well, if you're going to be gone, Bri.  I will make sure she's
entertained in your absence." Igarashi pantomimed fucking her against the
wall.  "Fresh flesh is best.  Yeah Bri?"
   He was too busy play acting to see Brian marching across the room.  He
snatched Igarashi by the back of his shirt and punched him in the gut.  He
put his other hand around the younger man's throat and pinned him to the
wall.  "Finished testing me?"
   Igarashi nodded stiffly.
   Brian let go and stepped back.
   "My sincere apology, sir.  I didn't know she meant that much to you."
   "Yeah," Brian took a breath and looked around the room.  The pin drop
silence and shocked expression said that Igarashi's sentiment was shared by
the rest of the room.  "Now you all do."
   "If I see her, I'll let her know Brian," said Jyasta.  "Watch yourself."
   ***
   Talia braced the wall for support as she exited the bathroom.  Her head
ached from crying and back and knees from labor.  Her eyes were both
swollen with sorrow and heavy with exhaustion.
   Sharon had been working Talia like a slave, never mind a maid.  She
crawled into bed and lay in the darkness while her sore muscles pulsed and
ached.  Her whole body hurt.
   She passed out before she could think to dream of anything in
particular.
   She'd been walking along a road before she became aware that she was
dreaming.  The moment she did the night deepened and a misty fog rolled
near.  When she tried to walk her feet stuck to the road.  Each step
strained her legs.
   She pulled and wrestled with the mire until she cleared the road.  Talia
focused on The Umbra.  The scene shifted.  She was in a different place,
surrounded cinder block and pipes.  Soft blue orbs glowed in the corners of
the room.  This was the basement of The Umbra.  She turned in a slow
circle. There was a tunnel leading deeper into the ground.  She'd never
seen The Umbra like this.  The light fixtures existed in the netherworld.
   A sound echoed from the tunnel.  She couldn't see anything, but it
sounded large.  Its lungs rattled with each breath.
   An entrancing woman in a slim silver gown, black waterfall of hair, and
nails as long as claws stepped between her and the tunnel.  She looked like
some kind 1920s lounge singer.  Her eyes sparkled ice blue and Talia found
herself trapped by them.
   "Talia." The reverberation of her voice slid around and through Talia's
body.  "You are not safe here.  You've been drawn to a place you shouldn't
be."
   "I'm looking for Brian.  I need to find him."
   "I will tell him.  I will wake you.  If you come back here again, I will
destroy you."
   Destroy you?  "Jyasta?"
   Talia bolted out her bed.  For several seconds she didn't know her
location or state of mind.  That must have been Jyasta, protective, same
threats.  The blue eyes were lighter though.
   A female wraith was indeed a gorgeous creature.
   ***
   Talia was setting the table for breakfast by the time Sharon woke up. 
Sharon walked over and looked at Talia's face.  Talia had checked it out
herself.  Her face was yellowing, most of the swelling had gone down.
   "I know what this is about."
   Talia didn't respond.  She didn't have to.  Sharon wouldn't leave a
statement like that hanging.
   "Edward, you remember him?  He saw you at the Umbra."
   Talia broke out in goose bumps.  She scrambled to imagine what he might
have seen.  How long was he there?
   Sharon sniffed and perched against the counter.  "What I want to know is
why you let some grown fucking man put his hands all over you?  Brian
Umbra? Damn, sis, he fill your head full of cow shit about developing
powers and contacting spirits or something?"
   "I was just dancing."
   Sharon's acerbic bark of a laugh sounded almost like a couch.  "You open
your mouth and lies pour out.  I asked around, little sister.  You've been
leaving this house to shack up with a deviant and, if he has anything to do
with you, a pedophile.  I bet he says that you're special and that you all
can take things slow.  Does he tell you how much he loves and understands
you?" She sang out the word love.
   Talia fixed Sharon's plate.  Brian hadn't said any of those things in
fact.  Come to think of it, she wasn't sure if Brian actually felt anything
like that for her at all.
   Lust, he made no secret of that one.
   "Has he fed you the line about everything being in your power?"
   "What would you know about that?"
   Sharon slammed her first on the table.  "Because they're all the same!
You have no fucking power!  There's nothing special about you!  You're a
damned liability destined to go crazy just like mom.  Stupid fucking bitch.
There is nothing special about you except that he hasn't fucked you in
every hole yet.  Has he?"
   "No."
   "Has he, Talia?  You let him fuck you?"
   "No!" Talia insisted, and he hadn't, not while they were awake.
   "Then that's why you're so fucking special."
   Talia sat down with her food and began to eat, but it didn't have any
taste to it.  The eggs were rubbery, the bacon dry, the toast flaky.
   "Talia, I care about you.  I really do.  Don't you believe that?"
   "Frankly?  No."
   Sharon was about to say something when their mother walked into the
room. "No one said there was breakfast."
   Sharon reached across the table and took Talia's plate.  "Here.  Enjoy."
Sharon pointed to Talia.  "Go get dressed, you'll be with me today."
   Already confused by the loss of her breakfast, this new demand
disoriented her for a moment.  "Where?  Why?"
   "I can't trust you to behave."
   "You're not my mother," Talia heard the words but couldn't believe she'd
spoken them.  Was she trying to earn another bruise on her face?
   "What's that supposed to mean?"
   "It means that if you don't want me to leave, then you should make me
want to stay."
   Sharon looked around, her eyes and mouth wide open.  "Are you
threatening to leave?  Is that what you're saying?"
   "I'm saying that I want to be treated like a human being."
   Sharon's fist tightened, her eyes narrowed and Talia braced herself for
the blow.  "You don't like the way I treat you?"
   The question was a trap.  The vision of her fist was not a good
indication that an answer of 'no' would be well received and 'yes' was far
from the truth.
   Ultimatums are illusions.  What better opportunity to test the 'cow
shit' at the house than now?
   Talia relaxed her posture.  "I'm not going to answer that."
   "You what?"
   A bead of sweat ran down the side of her face.  Reality was a little
tougher, but like dreams, it could be shaped.  As a dream walker, she
should be able to see the places where to push.
   Yeah, and who told me that?  Someone who's using me to get into my
pants.
   That is not true.  I'm not crazy.
   "Talia, I asked you a question."
   "Sharon, please."
   "Please what?"
   "Please, have mercy.  I can't.  There is no use trying to say anything
to you.  All my words will be twisted.  I just want to have a life,
friends, a bit of happiness.  I will earn my keep here at the house, clean,
cook, do whatever I need to thank you for stepping in where our mother
failed.  I want to be here with you.  I want to help you."
   Across the table, her mother frowned as if the breakfast tasted awful,
but said nothing.  She had bruises of her own that were still healing.
   Sharon look disappointed for a moment.  She'd been ready to issue
another beating, but the wind left her sails.  "Clean up." She left the
kitchen.
   Talia cried silently as she cleared the table and cleaned up the
breakfast dishes.  Was that a victory?  Maybe she should have let Sharon
beat her again.
   She pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt.  She'd lay low for a day and
then Sharon would lose interest.  It wasn't that bad.
   Sharon entered Talia's room and set a list on her desk.  "Find someone
your own age, Talia, someone who isn't trying to use you for a good time."
She tapped the list.  "You can stay here, but these are all the things I
want done while I'm gone.  Call me when you've finished, and I'll bring a
pizza home for you."
   "Can I leave?"
   Sharon shook her head.  "There's no time for you to daydream either. 
Get that list finished, or I'm going to work out which belt will best
remind your ass that you are not an adult."
   Talia nodded and lowered her head.  "I'll get it done."
   ***
   Jyasta paced the room.  She let loose a string of soft curses with each
exhalation.  Her boots echoed off the walls.  She'd seen that voluptuous
illusion of a woman the girl put out when she was out of her body.
   She checked the clock.  Brian would still be gone a few hours.  He
didn't need a stupid message about that doe-eyed teenaged girl.  She was a
nuisance and a distraction.  Dream walker, whatever.  Fucking lame party
tricks.  He wanted her here though, and Jyasta knew why.
   She spun and stomped her way toward the other side of the room again.
   "I'm so glad to hear that," Cynthia cooed.  "You take care baby.  It's a
hard road, but you're strong enough aren't you?"
   Jyasta gritted her teeth until Cynthia ended the call.
   "He made it home."
   Michael inclined his head.  "Whatever Talia did is helping him fight for
himself.  I never knew they could be removed."
   Jyasta huffed.  "Lucky she didn't end up in a coma with him.  She
blatantly ignored our warning."
   "You've seen her, haven't you?  That's what's got you in such a tizzy."
Michael shook his head.
   "Still might," Jyasta grumbled along with another litany of curses.
   Michael leaned forward and narrowed his eyes.  "Jyasta?"
   "She wasn't where she should have been." She pointed toward the
staircase that led the under rooms, the soft spot between their world and
the underworld.  "Headed for the tunnel."
   Igarashi cast a concerned glance to show he was listening.
   "Not you too." She seethed.  "Am I the only one who remembers she's a
fucking minor?!"
   "What age did you go into heat again?" Michael asked.
   Jyasta looked around the room.  "Since when does a wraith born compare
to a human?"
   "When you live on this side of the veil."
   "Fuck you so much." Jyasta went back to pacing.
   "What's going on with her to draw her toward the portal?" Michael asked.
"Anyone know?"
   Jyasta shook her head.
   Cynthia waved her hand in the air.  "Ah, she and her sister have a
karmic link.  Abusive."
   "Abusive," Jyasta mouthed.  "Fragile little shit."
   "Talia has helped us.  She's seen more than most people and kept it to
herself," said Michael.  "Fragile or not, she's wraith touched and a member
of this house."
   Jyasta threw up her hands.  "She's a naive child!  Of course she's
helpful.  She's a fucking teenager, sure she's stressed the fuck out.  She
doesn't know any better.  It's not our problem." Jyasta's tirade wound
down. There was complete silence as her boots echoed off the floor.  The
rage swelled and eddied through her body.
   It was only half the measure of what Brian's rage would be like if that
stupid girl ended up in trouble.  Jyasta tapped her extended nails against
her thigh and let loose one final string of curses.  "Who the fuck is her
sister?!"
   ***
   Talia sat on the floor at the foot of the couch.  The television was
playing, but she couldn't discern one show from the next.  She felt like a
chained animal, having to be in the room with Sharon all hours of the day.
Sharon made a point to disturb her sleep, she barely got four or so hours
before an alarm blared or one of Sharon's friends gave her a wake up call.
   Sharon muted the television.  "Did you hear that?"
   There was a knock on the door.
   "I got it." Sharon opened the door.  Her voice changed to a high and
friendly tone she rarely used with Talia or their mother.  "Hey there. 
Haven't seen you two in a while.  What's up?"
   "Up for a party?"
   "Fuck.  I can't I got to stay home tonight."
   "That's no problem.  We can keep this party between us."
   "Seriously?  What the hell is that?"
   "A good time if you want it."
   No, no, no, no.  Talia hugged her knees to her chest.  Something was off
about them.
   "Yeah, sure.  Come on in." Sharon hurried into the living room.  "Get
out of here.  Don't come out of your room till I--"
   One of the men put his hand around Sharon's midsection and mouth. 
Another held her arm and put a huge injection gun to her arm.
   "Get the hell out of here, Talia." A third man said as he pointed out
the front door.  She didn't know him either, but getting out sounded like a
perfect idea.  She was just about to step out the door when she paused. 
This was her sister, her home.
   "Hey, go on.  We're not going to hurt her.  You didn't see us and we
didn't see you."
   Talia hurried down the stairs and out onto the sidewalk.  She didn't
have on any shoes, all her things were in her room.  All she had on was an
XL tee shirt and panties.
   A car pulled up beside her and the door opened.  "Get in, Talia."
   She recognized Rita's voice, but it was Jyasta in the driver's seat that
gave her pause.  She fidgeted on the sidewalk as she pieces fit together.
She got in the backseat of the car.
   "Good decision." Jyasta took off.
   Jyasta pulled into the Umbra garage and led Talia upstairs.
   "Why?" Talia whispered.
   "You were in trouble and I knew it.  If something happened to you, Brian
would kill me.  I did this to save my own hide.  Get in there and get some
sleep.  Don't travel.  Just sleep."
   Jyasta opened his door.  "And shit," her eyes traveled up and down
Talia's body.  "He keeps a first aid kit under the sink.  Use his shower.
Clean yourself up."
   "Thank you."
   Jyasta rolled her eyes and walked away.
   ***
   Talia woke to Brian and Jyasta's argument in the hallway.
   "Stay out of it."
   "What happens in this house, to the owner of this house is our business.
I bought you a few days, but she's a minor.  I know what you're feeling
right now.  Leave her alone.  Find someone else."
   Talia couldn't hear Brian's response.  His voice lowered to a harsh
whisper.
   Brian entered the bedroom.  Talia watched as he undressed, his back to
her.  He smelled like male sex, sweat, and dirt.  He had a lean back.  She
couldn't see much in the dim light, but it was enough for her eyes to get
wide as saucers when he dropped his pants.
   He pushed open the bathroom door and seconds later he was in the shower.
   Did she trust him?  His motives?  Talia worried her bottom lip as the
smell of sandalwood drifted in from the bathroom.
   She was sleeping in his bed.  Maybe she should leave?  Leave and go
where?  She couldn't go home.
   Brian came back into the room.  The only light was that of the moon
coming through the window.  He navigated his room without the light.
   "Where have you been?" Talia whispered.
   "Work," he removed the towel from his body and pat his damp hair. 
"Dirty work.  Sometimes I have to use my hands." He sat on the bed, still
naked, and caressed her cheek.  "You know how I feel after that."
   Oh, that's what Jyasta meant.  Talia nodded.
   "As everyone is eager to remind me, you are a minor in the eyes of the
law." He leaned forward and touched his forehead to hers and lowered his
voice.  "You know how little I care about the law." He tipped her head back
and kissed her.  "But I care about you, so I'm going to be downstairs."
   Talia's hand tightened around his bicep.  Up until that point she'd been
coaching herself to keep a little distance and sanity between him.  Hit
with the realization that she wanted him to want her, she wanted to feel
that intensity and not wake up from it.  She wanted it to be real.
   Brian looked at the hand an his arm and back to her.  "You naked under
those covers?"
   "You can take care of that."
   Brian grinned as he pulled the covers back.  "Hey, I recognize this
woman." He gathered the night shirt and pulled it up over her head.  "Sleep
well?"
   "Yeah."
   "Good." He crawled on top of her and licked along her collar bone.  His
tongue traced spirals down to her breasts where he sucked on her nipples
until they hardened.  His hands rounded her hips and squeezed her buttocks.
"I have a lot of energy to work off before I sleep."
   ***
   Sharon grimaced as she pushed off the living room floor.  Bottles
clinked together.  She cringed and curled into a ball.  She'd never had a
hangover so painful in her life.  Each sound, movement felt like a torture
device inside her skull.
   Fragments of the night before played through her mind.  She rubbed her
shoulder and felt the spot where Kevin stuck her.  Whatever it was fried
her brain.  Just when she thought she was coming down the high changed and
rebounded.  She felt like a passenger on a runaway go kart.
   "Ta--" Trying to speak brought on a spike of pain.
   She shivered and curled tighter on the floor.  She'd just wait until the
pain went away.  Talia and her mom could just wait.
   ***
   Talia woke with a smile.  She stretched in the bed and felt new aches in
her muscles.  So much for keeping her virginity.
   Was Sharon right?  Was that all he cared about?
   Talia eased toward the edge of the mattress.  Brian reached out and
pulled her close, curled around her body.  She angled her head to look at
him.  He looked to be sound asleep.  One limb at a time, she separated from
his body and made it out the bed.
   She felt Brian staring at her the whole way to the bathroom.  She
imagined his shadowy form swirling around her.
   "I'll be right back," she whispered.  She'd need to get back home.  If
he didn't want anything to do with her then she'd make it easier on him.
   Brian was wide awake and staring at her as she stepped back into the
room.  His eyes looked darker than usual, his whole body seemed coiled
rather than relaxed.
   Forget about Sharon.  She knew Brian, and what she knew about him warned
her to be careful.
   "Is it okay if I hang out here for a while?"
   His face softened into a visage of pure satisfaction.  He lifted the
covers.  "As long as you like."
   She crawled under with him and snuggled against his body.  "Don't you
have to get to work or something?"
   "I'm already there." He grinned at her look of confusion.  "The house.
Michael lives here and pays me rent.  David pays me a cut of his tattoo
business.  I get a cut of the proceeds from the parties on the weekend. 
Then there's the compensation for teaching classes."
   "All of that?"
   "All of that and more.  My dirty work pays pretty well too."
   ***
   Sharon didn't find the strength to get out of bed until sunset.  She
went to check on her mother.  She was sound asleep with a half empty bottle
of vodka.  The woman wouldn't take her medicine, but she took to liquor
like a professional.
   Sudden movement brought on another wave of pain and nausea.  She held on
to the frame of the door until it passed.  She eased down the hallway and
pushed open the door to Talia's room.  The bed was still made, her room
empty.  Sharon hobbled from room to room, checked the front and back yard,
but she found no sign of her younger sister Talia.
   She dialed Talia's cell and heard it ringing from the bedroom.  Where'd
she go without her phone?
   "They have her now," her mother slurred as she entered the living room.
   "What are you going on about?"
   "Like attracts like.  Darkness builds.  You didn't listen.  You didn't
protect her.  It feeds on her."
   "Go back in your room, Mom.  My head hurts and I don't have the patience
to patronize you."
   She knew where the little tramp went.  She just needed to find out where
that sick fuck lived and send the police.
   She picked up the phone to dial Greg.  By the second pounding of her
head had become so powerful that Sharon was seeing phantom lights.  She
ended the call and staggered to the bathroom cabinet in search of more pain
relievers.
   ***
   For several minutes there was the sound of their breath, the creak of
house, footsteps in the basement, whispered conversations in other rooms.
Talia matched her breath with his and let herself sink deeper into the
trance state.
   "Talia."
   She joined him in darkness.  She felt Brian's body near hers.
   "Well done.  All we're going to do today is explore.  Stay with me."
   He opened a door and they stepped into a world different than one she'd
ever seen, not quite a dreamworld, reality, or the netherworld.  She
understood the nuances and rules of this plane, but it was alien to her.
   "Follow me.  Look around.  Try to remember as much as you can."
   Talia took hold of his hand and followed him through the dimly lit
cavern.  The echo of water trickling into a shallow pool echoes down the
caverns.
   "Where are we?"
   "A place without a name, at least a name that's known to me.  I want you
to pay attention.  You are the lead documenter, and your job is to observe
and remember.  Got it?"
   "Got it."
   ***
   The vision faded and Talia felt back inside her body, her back ached and
her legs tingled with numbness.
   "Slow," Brian whispered.  "Come out as slowly as you went in.  Do you
understand what you saw?" Brian stood and stretched.
   Talia shook her head.
   He tossed her an empty notebook.  "Write down everything, whether you
understand it or not.  Try to record everything in first person,
chronological order, even if that means you have to make a few drafts. 
When you've done that, make a few guesses about what you think. 
Eventually, you'll become familiar with the symbols and can interpret what
you just went through."
   "Can't you just tell me what they mean?"
   Brian shook his head.  "I can't.  We didn't see the same things, we
don't attach the same meanings to symbols.  We'll compare notes later.  The
one thing that caught your attention may have completely slipped my notice.
Each experience is personal."
   She filled several pages and did need a few drafts to tuck in the late
memories.  "Is my sister going to be okay?"
   "She'll live." He sat behind her and looked over her shoulder.  "Call
her."
   "If I do then she'll," He words trailed off as Brian shook his head.
   "She can't bother you for at least another day.  Give her a ring.  Let
her know that you're okay."
   Talia dialed her sister.
   "Hello?" Sharon voice sounded strained.
   "Sharon, this is Talia.  Are you all right?"
   "Like you give a flying fuck.  No.  I have a terrible headache.  As soon
as I get over it, I'm going to beat your ass."
   Talia sighed.  "The headache can't be that bad.  Who's watching mom?"
   "Fuck her.  Where are you?"
   "Some place safe."
   Sharon groaned.  "He's fucked you."
   "I wasn't passive."
   "Get your ass home before midnight you slut.  I'm locking the door after
that.  My head is in too much pain to deal with you right now.  Get home.
The earlier the better.  All right?"
   Talia hung up the phone.  Sharon must have been insane if she thought
she'd willingly go home to get beaten.
   "Everything all right?" Brian said.
   "The usual," Talia tossed the phone back to him.
   -_ Last Battle _-
   Talia lay in bed beside Brian.  He'd fallen asleep several minutes ago.
She wanted to follow him, but she couldn't stop thinking about Sharon. 
She'd call the police soon and then Brian would get in trouble.  Talia
feared how Jyasta would react to that turn of events.
   She went to sleep with Sharon on her mind and her dream began with her
standing in front of her house.  The sides of the house were covered in a
gray green fungus.  The scant grass had turned to a lake of bubbling brown
sludge.
   She took careful steps along the walkway.  The front door swung open
creating a heavy groaning sound.  Specks of dust and debris floated in the
sunbeams.  Each of Talia's steps brought a fresh plume of dust.  The
pictures were off center, cracks ran along the walls from floor to ceiling,
some of them wide enough for insects to crawl through.
   The house groaned as if they were on a boat and not solid ground.
   A harsh rasp and several clicks drew Talia's attention to the hallway.
Her mother lost her balance, collided with the wall, and fell to the floor.
Her mouth opened wider than a mouth should and she growled angrily, her
brown eyes glowing as she stared at Talia.  Her mother made to jump, but
collar around her neck pulled short and she fell to the floor.
   Talia followed the leash to Sharon's room.
   "I hate you!" Sharon snatched Talia into the room and began to rain
blows on her body.
   "Sharon!  Stop!  Stop!" Talia felt each blow as if they went through her
body.  She didn't allow her a moment's rest.  Something burned as it dug
into her back.
   Sharon stood over her body, kicked her until she was on her back and
leered down.  "Welcome home."
   Talia erected the barrier around her body before Sharon could start
kicking again.  It wavered with cadet blue light.  Each time Sharon touched
the barrier, she snatched her hand back with a snarl.  Repeated attacks
only made Sharon angrier.
   Talia braced herself for another attempt, but Sharon was grinning.  She
looked to the window and the shutters as they closed.  Sounds of doors
slamming echoed through the house.  Without the sunlight the room turned
dark.
   Chittering and whispering grew louder.  Things were filling the room,
pouring down along the walls.
   She could wake herself, escape this, but that wasn't why Talia sought
her sister out.
   She dropped the barrier and stood.  Her legs tickled as feelers and legs
reached for her.
   "Sometimes the goal isn't to get away," Talia whispered.  "It's to get
inside.  Now I'm here."
   "You'll stay here forever."
   "Excuse me," Talia spoke louder, to the things in the dark with them. 
"I need a moment.  Leave us."
   The creatures filling the room disappeared as if they were never there.
   Talia reached out for Sharon, pulled her into an embrace, kissed her on
the cheek.  Sharon struggled, but she couldn't break out of Talia's hold,
couldn't strike her.  She grunted and groaned but the sound broke and soon
she was crying on Talia's shoulder.
   Talia held her sister close.  She closed her eyes and fought to comfort
the loneliness, the stress, the fatigue.
   Doors and windows began to open again, cracks in the walls healed.
   "You won't have to worry about anyone but yourself," Talia kissed Sharon
a final time and released her.
   Sharon collapsed to her knees.
   Talia found her mother on the floor in the living room and unfastened
the collar around her neck.  "It's too late for you." She kneeled over her
mother's back and pulled her head up.  Talia stretched her hand out and the
blade in her mind became solid in her hand.  "Rest now."
   She slit her mothers neck and held her head back until the blood ceased
to flow.
   ***
   Talia woke.  Her eyes opened, but she didn't move.  Each breath felt
thick, heavy.  The sheets stuck to her hands as she sat up, but the blood
stains on the sheets and her hands faded as she stared at them.
   The phone rang, interrupting Talia's attempt to make sense of the scene
before her.
   "It's for you." Brian handed her the phone.
   "Hello?"
   "Hey," Sharon sounded tired.  There was a long moment of silence between
them.  "Um..." The crack in her voice told Talia all she needed to know.
   "Call me when there's a funeral date."
   "You ...  how did you know?" Another long silence.  "I have work in a
couple hours.  You can stop by and get your things tonight."
   "Enjoy your life Sharon," Talia hung up the phone.
   <->
   Epilogue: Brian Umbra's house features in other stories.  I'm attached
to its historical significance, even if I'm not the happiest about this
story's content.
Written: 1997
   Contact: nysidra at hot mail dot com
  
Umbra