Erin woke up to the sound of her phone ringing. Groaning out loud, she rolled over to answer it.
It was Chrissy. "Hiyas, chick. How are you enjoying your morning off?"
She would be enjoying it a whole lot more if someone hadn't interrupted her dream while she was trying to find V'Aidan so that she could strip him naked and drag him into the water with her.
"It's okay," Erin said, stifling her agitation.
"Did I wake you?"
"Yes, you did."
"Oh, I'm sorry. Were you having another nightmare?"
Erin smiled at the memory. "No, not a nightmare."
"Really?" Chrissy asked in disbelief. "Not a single second of one?"
"Nope. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd really like to go back to sleep."
"Yeah, sure," Chrissy said with an odd note in her voice. "Why don't you do that?"
Erin lay in bed for a solid hour, trying to go back to sleep to find V'Aidan, but it didn't work.
She felt so good from their time together that she had no choice but to get up.
Aggravated at herself for not having more control over her ability to go back to sleep, she piddled around the house.
By late morning, she found herself at her computer, staring at her marketing report.
As she worked, V'Aidan's kind, encouraging words drifted through her mind. And before she knew what she was doing, she closed out her spreadsheet and was opening up her word processor.
Erin sat there for hours, typing furiously. It wasn't until late afternoon that she stopped.
Completely happy for the first time in years, Erin stared at what she'd done. Proud of her accomplishment, she wanted to share it with someone.
No, she corrected herself. She wanted to share it with V'Aidan.
She printed off her pages, then took them to the couch. Lying down, she clutched the papers to her chest and willed herself to sleep in hopes of seeing him again.
She found him standing in a meadow. He was dressed all in black right down to his leather biker boots. His jeans hugged his hard thighs, and his black T-shirt looked yummy as it stretched over a chest so lean and toned that it could only be real in her dreams.
The cool breeze tugged at his loose hair, and his silvery eyes shimmered in the daylight.
"I came looking for you," she said happily.
He appeared puzzled by her words. "Really?"
"Yes."
She sat down in the middle of her summer meadow with beautiful jewel-toned butterflies all around her. After their discussion last night, Erin had been trying to let her inner artist out. She wore a light peasant blouse and a loose skirt that rode up on her thighs when she sat.
Best of all, she conjured up a box of Nutter Butter Bites.
V'Aidan moved closer. "What are you eating?"
"Nutter Butters. Want some?"
He dropped to his knees by her side. "What are they?"
She ran her hand through the red box and scooped out a handful to show him the tan-colored circles. "Peanut butter cookies. They're really good, and the best part of all - in dreams, they have no calories."
He laughed at that. "Would you feed me one?"
More nervous than she could fathom, she held a cookie up for him. He licked her finger as he took the cookie into his mouth. "It's delicious. Your finger, I mean."
She smiled at him and kissed his cheek.
He looked so stunned that it was almost laughable.
"Hey," she said, putting the box aside and grabbing up the papers she'd brought with her. "You'll be proud of me."
He arched a brow.
"I wrote today. For the first time since college."
"Really?"
She nodded. "I actually finished ten pages. Want to see?"
"Of course I do." He took the pages from her hands and sat down in front of her to read them.
Erin watched his gaze sweeping over the page. She ached to reach out and run her hands over his glorious body. He was as toned as an athlete. Better still, his taste was more addictive than chocolate.
When he finished, he looked up at her and the proud, encouraging look on his face stole her breath. He was so devastatingly handsome, so warm, that it made her weak.
"Vampires?" he asked.
She grinned. "I know it's a weird topic, but I just sort of channeled them. What I like is that they're so different from other vampire stories."
"They remind me of some people I know."
Erin gaped in disbelief. "Get out! You know vampires?"
"I know lots of them."
"Are you teasing me?" she asked suspiciously, still not sure if he was serious or not. "There really is such a thing?"
He didn't answer. Instead he flipped back through the pages. "You're very talented, Erin. You shouldn't let this go to waste."
Hearing it from him, she could almost believe it. "You think so?"
"Yes, I do."
He set the pages aside and stared at her.
Erin's blouse began unlacing itself. She shivered at the dark, hungry look on V'Aidan's face as he watched it. Slowly, bit by bit, the laces came out of the holes. Her nipples hardened in expectation. Then, the opening widened, baring a single breast.
"Hey!" she teased.
He smiled unrepentantly. "My favorite part of dreams. Clothing is optional."
Erin hissed as he cupped her breast in his hand; then she gave him a whammy of her own.
He looked down at his new clothes with a frown. "What is this?"
She bit her lip at his costume. "You look good as a pirate."
He laughed. "Ahoy, matey," he said, laying her back against the grass. "Me cap'n's ship needs a port."
She moaned as he kissed her. "Me cap'n's port needs a ship."
They made love for an eternity. Erin had V'Aidan every way a woman could have a man. She took him under her, over her, and from behind her.
She spent hours running her hands and mouth over all that glorious tawny skin until she knew his body even better than she knew her own. In the end they soared into the sky, where they made love while the stars twinkled all around them.
Erin lay quietly in his arms, just listening to his heart beating under her cheek.
"V'Aidan?" she asked, sitting up to watch him. "Where do you go when you're not in my dreams? Do you visit other women?"
His hot look scorched her. "No. I don't want any other woman."
"Really?"
"I swear it."
She picked his hand up and kissed his palm. "Then what do you do?"
His eyes glowed. "I think up ways to make love to you."
She laughed out loud at the thought. "You know what I want to do?"
"After the night we've had, I honestly can't imagine."
"I want to show you a carnival. Have you ever been to one?"
"No."
Closing her eyes, Erin wished them to a state fair.
V'Aidan was aghast at her world. The bright lights and music...
Used to only visiting people in their nightmares, he'd never heard music before. The sound was wonderful and warm.
There were only a handful of people around and he let her take his hand and feed him cotton candy, candy apples, funnel cake, and corn dogs.
In between the food, they rode all kinds of rides that made his head spin. But not nearly as much as the woman herself did.
"Hey!" she said as they approached another booth. "Let's get our picture made. I've always wanted to have an old-timey photo done. What do you say?"
"Whatever makes you happy."
V'Aidan allowed her to dress him up in an Old West outfit while she dressed as a saloon girl, but his favorite part was when she sat in his lap where he could hold her. Better still, the dress she wore fell over them so that her bare thighs rested against his loins. It amazed him how fast his body leaped to life.
How could he want to make love to her when he'd already spent hours lost in her body? Yet there was no denying the fire he felt. The urge he had to free himself from his pants and press her hot, wet body down on him.
"You okay?" she asked, looking at him over her shoulder.
He nodded, even though his groin burned like an inferno.
In the first picture, they were cheek to cheek. The second was with her cradled in his arms, and for the last one she leaned over and kissed his cheek at the very last minute.
Erin took the pictures from the photographer and frowned. "Oh, good Lord," she breathed. "I look like the boobie prize."
"Excuse me?"
Her eyes sad, she handed him the pictures. "You're so incredibly handsome and I'm just a plump, round, average-looking nothing."
V'Aidan felt as though she'd slapped him. "Erin," he said, his voice thick. "You are not nothing. You are the most beautiful person I have ever known."
She smiled weakly. "You're sweet."
V'Aidan stopped her and turned her to face him. "No, I'm not. Do you want to know what I see when I look at you?"
Erin swallowed, her gaze searching his face. "Sure."
V'Aidan handed her the pictures again.
Looking at them, Erin gasped at what she saw. Her mouse-brown hair glowed with golden highlights. Her face had a perfect peachy complexion and her dark brown eyes were bright and shiny. She looked breathtaking.
And it was so not her.
"This is what you see?" she asked V'Aidan.
He nodded, his face grim. "That is what you are to me."
Erin reached to hug him, but before she could, a weird buzzing sounded.
V'Aidan vanished instantly.
"No!" she groaned as she woke up to the sound of someone ringing her doorbell.
Disappointed to the point of violence, she got up and answered the door.
She blinked in disbelief. Chrissy stood on the other side.
"Hey," Chrissy said brightly. "Sorry to disturb you, but John wanted me to drop off more data for the report."
Trying really hard not to be snappish, Erin opened the door and took the disks from Chrissy's hand. "Thanks. Sorry you had to come all the way out here."
"No prob." Chrissy frowned at her. "Were you asleep again?"
Erin blushed. "Yes, I was."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Positive."
"Nightmares?"
"Completely gone."
"Oh," Chrissy said, her voice strangely flat. "Glad to hear it. So then, normal dreams?"
Erin frowned at how choppy and odd their conversation was. "Wonderful dreams, anyway."
Chrissy nodded. "Ah, well, that's good. I'll see you later, okay?"
"Thanks again," Erin said as she closed the door.
She leaned her head against the door and cursed. Who or what did she have to kill to have an uninterrupted day with V'Aidan?
Over the next few days, Erin began to fear even more for her sanity. Not because of her nightmares anymore but because she no longer wanted to be awake.
Every night V'Aidan would come to her. She took him dancing and showed him all kinds of places and things he'd never seen before.
Worse, she learned that he had some degree of control over when she fell asleep. He'd told her he could borrow mist from his Uncle Wink and, much like the Sandman, Wink's mist could induce sleep.
On Friday afternoon when she felt a severe wave of tiredness come over her, she knew what V'Aidan had done.
He was becoming more and more impatient with waiting for her to fall asleep, and in the back of her mind she wondered if one day he would pull her into his realm and not let her go.
When she opened her eyes, she found him lying beside her, his eyes burning her with their intensity.
"Are you angry with me?" he asked, tracing her cheek with his hand.
"I should be. I really wanted to watch that movie."
"I'm sorry," he said, but his face told her he didn't have a smidgen of remorse.
"No, you're not."
He smiled down at her. "No, I'm not, but I don't want you to be angry with me for it."
She laughed at him. "You're evil."
His playfulness died instantly. "Why do you say that?"
She frowned at the hurt look she didn't understand. "I was joking, V'Aidan."
His jaw ticced angrily under her hand. "I never want you to think I'm truly evil."
"How could I?"
V'Aidan dipped his lips to hers, tasting her, wanting to devour her. He needed her and the more he was with her, the worse it became. He'd never known anything sweeter than those lips. Nothing more precious than her small, heart-shaped face.
Erin was overwhelmed by the passion in his kisses. Each one seemed to be even more possessive than the last.
Then he moved his lips lower, over her breasts, where he paused to take his time savoring each mound. As he teased her, white rose petals fell from the sky, covering her.
Erin laughed. "What is this?"
"My gift to you," V'Aidan said. "I want to bathe you in roses."
"Why white?"
"Because, like you, they are pure and beautiful."
Then he kissed her lower, across her stomach, her hip, down her leg, and then up her inner thigh until he kissed her where she ached.
Erin moaned at the feel of his mouth against her, his tongue sweeping across her nub, then down to where she throbbed. He growled, the sound vibrating through her.
He seemed to delight in giving her pleasure first. He never took his own until she'd climaxed at least twice before him.
She shook in the throes of her first release. When she was finished, V'Aidan pulled back with a devilish grin that made him appear boyish. "I love the way you taste. The way you smell."
She smiled warmly at him. "I love being with you. I don't even want to wake up anymore. I just live moment to moment, wishing I were asleep and waiting until I can see you again."
A dark look crossed his features.
Had those words hurt him? She couldn't imagine how or why they would, and yet... "V'Aidan?"
He moved away from her and his black clothes immediately returned to cover his body.
"V'Aidan, what is it?"
V'Aidan didn't answer.
What he was doing was wrong, and not just because it was forbidden. He didn't care about rules.
What he cared about was Erin.
And every time he pulled her into his realm he was robbing her of the pleasures of her own world. Of her life.
This was wrong, and for the first time he understood exactly how wrong it was.
"V'Aidan!" the howling shout echoed through the trees surrounding them.
He knew that angry bellow. "You must leave," he said, sweeping a quick kiss across her lips.
"But - "
He gave her no time to argue before he sent her back to her world and rolled over onto his back to appear nonchalant.
She had barely vanished before M'Ordant appeared to stand over him. Dressed in the same black clothes, M'Ordant looked very similar to V'Aidan. Same black hair, same silvery-blue eyes. The only thing they differed in was height. V'Aidan stood a good four inches taller and he wore the look of a deadly predator.
M'Ordant looked like a person the humans called a Boy Scout.
"What are you doing?" M'Ordant asked.
"I am lying in the sun," V'Aidan said, placing his hands behind his head. "You?"
"Is that an attempt at humor?"
V'Aidan shrugged as he looked up at his brother. M'Ordant was one of the oldest of the Oneroi and was one of Morpheus's most favored sons. "If it were an attempt, it would be wasted on you, now wouldn't it?"
"More humor?"
V'Aidan sighed. "Why are you here?"
"I have heard distressing news about you."
"And to think I thought all news about me was distressing."
That was lost on his brother as well as M'Ordant stared down at him. "Did you learn nothing from your punishment?"
Yes, he'd learned to be more careful seeking out Erin. To tell no one of the precious time they spent together.
"You're boring me, M'Ordant. Go away."
"You can't be bored."
"And a good thing, too, since I'd no doubt perish from it while in your company."
M'Ordant stared at him blankly. "I am merely here as a courtesy. As of this moment, the woman is tagged. Summon her again, and you will deal with me."
"Well, it certainly wouldn't be the first time you and I have crossed."
"True, but I have permission from Hypnos to make it the last time if you interfere with her again."
Erin went to sleep that night and waited for V'Aidan to show himself.
He didn't.
When she woke up in the morning, she trembled with loss and worry. Had something happened to him?
He'd acted so strangely yesterday. And that shout...
What could have happened? Could the Skoti have found him? Hurt him because he protected her?
"V'Aidan," she whispered. "Where are you?"
V'Aidan ached as he heard the plea in Erin's voice. He stood at her side, so close all he had to do was shift slightly and he would touch her. "I'm here, Erin," he whispered. "I've been here all night."
She didn't hear him.
He'd stayed by her bed the entire time she slept, watching her. Making sure none of the Skoti found her. He was sure Krysti'Ana was behind M'Ordant's appearance.
V'Aidan was all that stood between Erin and Krysti'Ana. So long as he visited her dreams and they were together, his sister would never be able to claim Erin.
Erin's mind was ripe with happiness and creativity. Her dreams were vivid and warm and bubbling over with emotions. Any Skotos would be attracted to her.
And now he could neither protect her nor...
His thoughts scattered as she wept.
Pain lacerated his chest at the sight of her grief. She sobbed as if her heart were broken.
Why?
But worse was the helplessness he felt. He hurt for her. "Please don't cry, akribos," he whispered, trying to gather her into his arms.
It didn't work.
He wasn't of her world. He could never be part of her world. Grinding his teeth, he cursed his formless existence.
Erin wept until her eyes grew heavy. Until she was spent and so tired, she couldn't move.
And as she slipped back into sleep, she thought for an instant that she caught a glimpse of V'Aidan in her room.
The next thing she knew, she found herself high on a mountaintop, looking out on the ocean.
The grass caressed her bare feet as the waves crashed on the surf far below. Wind whipped through her hair, plastering her white sundress to her body.
She breathed in the crisp, clean air and listened to the gulls cawing. How peaceful.
Just when she thought her dream couldn't improve, she felt two strong arms wrap around her. "Do you like it here?"
She shivered at the deep accent of V'Aidan's voice in her ear. "Yes, I do."
She turned in his arms to see his hot gaze staring down at her. She trembled at his concerned look, at the handsome lines of his face.
"Tell me why you were crying," he demanded.
"I was afraid something had happened to you."
"And it made you sad?"
She nodded.
V'Aidan shook with the knowledge. He leaned down and rested his chin against her shoulder and inhaled the sweet scent of her skin. She felt so incredible in his arms.
She had worried over him. It was unbelievable.
"Where were you?"
"I was with you," he breathed. "I just thought you'd want a night off."
She laughed at that. "You say that as if being around you is a trial."
"Isn't it?"
She looked aghast at the very idea. "No. Never."
"Why do you like being around me?"
"You make me happy."
He frowned. "I made you cry."
"Only a little."
"And still you want to be with me?"
"Of course I do."
The woman was the greatest fool in history.
He knew he didn't have long before M'Ordant would find them. He'd brought her to his land to help mask what he'd done, but it wouldn't shield the tag permanently.
But before he returned her, he wanted to share one last piece of himself with her before he said good-bye to her forever.
V'Aidan moved away and pointed out to the horizon that his special perch looked out onto. "Did you know you can see the edge of the world from here?"
"Excuse me?"
He smiled. "It's true. See that gold glinting in the sunlight? That's where the human world begins."
"Where are we?"
"This is the Vanishing Isle. Greek sailors used to believe they would come here when they died so that they could always be near the ocean."
"And why do they call it the Vanishing Isle?" she asked.
"Because you can only see it for a few minutes at sunup and sundown. Much like the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, you can try to reach it, but you never will."
She looked up at him. "Are you really a Greek god?"
"Would it scare you if I were?"
"Do you want me to fear you?"
V'Aidan hesitated at her question. It was the answer that truly surprised him. "No, I don't."
She smiled a smile that shook him all the way to his heart. "Is this where you live?"
"Sometimes."
"Why only sometimes?"
"There are certain times of the year when I am banned from here."
Her brows drew together into a concerned frown. "Why?"
"The other gods don't like my kind. I am a pariah to all."
"Why would they feel that way? You are a champion."
"Not really. I'm a dream master and not what you see. I'm nothing more than the image you have made for me, but in reality I have no substance. No feelings."
"I don't believe that. A man without feelings would never have helped me the way you have."
He fingered her cheek. "You are so naive. Are all women like you?"
"No," she said with a devilish gleam in her eyes. "I've been told many times that I am highly unusual."
V'Aidan dipped his head down and took possession of her mouth. Erin sighed as she fisted her hands in the folds of his black shirt. "You taste like heaven," she breathed.
He needed to let her go. It was time.
But...
He couldn't do it.
Zeus have mercy on him, he couldn't send her back. Not when all he really wanted to do was hold on to her for the rest of eternity.
The air around them sizzled with electricity as the sky above turned dark. Erin trembled in his arms.
"What is that?" she whispered.
It was his death.
"Don't worry, akribos," he said, "I will protect you." The emotion behind the words stunned him most of all. He meant them, and for the first time ever he understood them.
Suddenly one of Zeus's lightning bolts hit the ground, driving them apart.
Erin fell several yards from V'Aidan.
V'Aidan tried to reach her, but before he could, ten demon Skoti appeared and surrounded her.
In her snake form, Krysti'Ana laughed, the sound cackling louder than thunder. "Tell me, human," she lisped. "What do you fear more? Dying yourself or seeing him die in your place?"
"Let her go," V'Aidan said, rising to his feet. He summoned his black armor to shield him and he pulled his sword from the air around them.
"Never," Krysti'Ana said with a laugh. "I need her ideas. I need her mind. Look at you. Look at me. See what she has done to us? You didn't make her weaker by releasing her creativity. You made her stronger. I have never been so powerful."
It was true. Erin's mind, her depth of spirit, was a treasure. One he had sworn to himself that he would protect at any cost. "Release her, or I will kill you." He pierced each of the Skoti with a murderous glance. "All of you."
Krysti'Ana laughed even harder at that. "You are forbidden to take my life."
"Forbidden or not, I will kill you before I see her harmed."
Erin watched in terror as the Skoti attacked V'Aidan. He fought them with his sword and arms, but he was outnumbered. It was futile. They flew at him, tearing his skin with their claws, shredding his armor.
The she-snake caught him with her tail and slammed him into a tree.
V'Aidan's entire body throbbed as he tried to push himself to his feet. In his human form, he didn't stand a chance against so many of them. He couldn't teleport out and leave Erin behind, and without touching her he couldn't teleport out with her.
"What's the matter, little brother?" Krysti'Ana taunted. "Why do you not change to fight me?"
V'Aidan glanced to Erin and he knew why. He didn't want to frighten her. He only wanted...
He only wanted her love.
The thought tore through him. He was to never know such. Was beyond it. But still the need was there. Aching. Yearning.
V'Aidan struggled to breathe. He could live and lose the possibility of her love forever or he could be what she thought he was and die in this human form.
If he died, she would have no one to protect her...
Lost and unsure, he did what he'd never done before.
He called for help. "Hypnos!"
The god's reply came in the form of M'Ordant.
The Skoti backed down, circling back to Erin and Krysti'Ana in a protective circle.
M'Ordant approached him slowly, his face completely void of any emotion. "What would you have Hypnos do, V'Aidan? Would you have him offer you mercy for your crimes? Tell me, is there any rule made which you have not broken?"
"I..." He looked to Erin as she struggled against the Skotos holding her. Deep in his heart he had known what Hypnos's answer would be. He was nothing to the gods. Nothing to anyone.
But at least this way, Erin would be returned to her world and she would be free of the Skoti forever. "Protect her for me."
M'Ordant arched a brow at that. "For you? My job is to protect her from you." M'Ordant turned to face the Skoti. "He is yours to do with as you please. The woman, however, belongs to me."
V'Aidan felt the foreign sensation of tears in his eyes as he looked at Erin.
She was safe.
As for him...
He didn't want to live without her anyway.
Sinking to his knees, he dropped his sword and waited for the Skoti to carry out his sentence.
Erin screamed as she realized the monsters intended to kill V'Aidan. They circled around him like hungry lions stalking prey.
"Come," the unknown man said, taking her by the arm.
"They're going to kill him."
"If they don't kill him, I will."
"Why?"
He didn't answer. Erin felt the familiar pull of the Oneroi trying to send her home.
But she wouldn't go. She wouldn't leave V'Aidan alone to face the monsters.
Twisting out of M'Ordant's hold, she ran toward the Skoti and shoved her way through them.
She found V'Aidan on the ground, covered in blood. His armor in pieces around him, he lay helpless.
V'Aidan felt someone tugging at him. The desperate, grasping hands hurt him even more as they rolled him to his back. He looked up, expecting to see Krysti'Ana poised to end his life, but instead he met the dark brown eyes of heaven.
Erin wrapped herself around him, shielded him with her body as she willed herself to wake up. He heard her loud thoughts screaming in his head.
He wanted to tell her to go but couldn't.
His strength gone, V'Aidan could do nothing more than wrap his arms around her and cradle her gently. Her tears stung his wounds and he wanted to tell her not to cry for him. He wasn't worth it.
He'd never been worth anything until she had taught him kindness.
He heard M'Ordant trying to get through the Skoti to pull Erin back, but the Skoti refused.
"I'll have them both," Krysti'Ana snarled. "His life and her mind."
Closing his eyes, V'Aidan summoned the last of his powers. He kissed Erin on the lips, then sent her home.
As she shimmered out of his world, V'Aidan felt himself slipping, sliding down a deep hole. The world shifted and spun. Too weak to fight it, he allowed himself to go wherever it took him, and he was sure that place would be Tartarus.
Not that it mattered. Any day without Erin in his life was hell.
Erin woke up from her nightmare with a jerk and a scream lodged in her throat. She couldn't be back, not without V'Aidan. She had reached down deep inside her and had fastened on to him with all she possessed.
Her eyes were clenched shut. She didn't want to open them yet.
Didn't want to know that she had left him behind to die.
There had to be some way back to him. Some way to save him.
Her heart pounding, she felt something shift beneath her.
Opening her eyes, she realized she was back in her bed... and lying draped over a naked and bleeding V'Aidan.