The Knight of Her Dreams (Dragons and Dreamphasers) (16 page)

For true to reality, Chaos would never see reason
here, and Discord always followed suit.

His mother Warp might see things differently
though.  Sometimes hard to contact, since she was a teleporter who adored
visiting the outer regions of Chavernos whenever possible, Dominick couldn’t
help wishing she was here now.  Although she didn’t approve of his meeting
women in the dream-state either, and especially the very long distant category,
there were times when she’d inquired if he’d met anyone he was truly interested
in.  Time and again, he’d denied this.

Dreams were one thing, but reality was another.

Some gaps just couldn’t be bridged.

She might like Julianna though
, he found himself musing.  His mother could hold
her own in a verbal dispute when angry, much like Dominick’s long-distance
Earth companion, and never hesitated to stand up to her husband or sons when
called for.  Yet Warp would more likely be fond of Julianna simply because she
was an intelligent and amiable woman.  The kind that could charm the sternest
guardian devils to rest... or unrest!

And unrest would remain within him unless he went
back to find his dream companion again.  Maybe it was desire solely from the
chase, but right now, it wasn’t something he had the will to fight.

His dragon friends were right.

Come what may, he had to keep his promise to see
Julianna again this night, and although he most certainly wouldn’t force her
into anything as Buddy and Jarissa seemed to think, neither was he about to
give up easily.

Shutting his eyes at the thought, a smile crossed
his face as he wondered what strange dream they’d end up in this time.  And
then, he considered lending a hand in selecting a suitable one for their
nightly rendezvous.  This time, one without spaceships or squads of officers to
bother them.

*****

“Ooof!” gasped Julianna as her enthusiastic
nephew pounced onto her bed, narrowly missing her.  Dropping her book, she gave
him an amused smile.  “And just what are
you
doing here at this
hour?” she asked mischievously, tickling Sammy once.

“I want a story, Aunt Julie,” he laughed, looking
up at her with his brown eyes shining.

Julianna glanced quickly at her clock. 
It’s
after nine-thirty, and way past this little guy’s bedtime
, she thought,
amazed he was still up.  But as always, she could no more refuse her nephew
than if he’d been her own child.  A fact she doubted greatly ever to see, hence
she was determined to make the most of things with Sammy.

“All right,” she agreed.  “But then, off to
sleep.”

“Okee dokey,” he said, jumping into her lap.

Laughing a bit at the phrase he’d picked up from
her over the years, Julianna proceeded to tell him a story about a knight who
sought to vanquish a terrible creature that dwelled just outside his kingdom. 
Naturally, no one could defeat this creature, until the knight received a gift
from a beautiful sorceress that saved the day, enabling him to slay the
creature.  She went on to say that the knight married the sorceress and they
surely lived happily ever after.

Sammy’s quiet snoring ended the tale!

Carrying the sleeping child back to his bed,
Julianna was unaware that she was being followed by an invisible—yet
familiar—presence.

Dominick gaped upon first arriving at Julianna’s
house, seeing the child she held as she told him her story. 
Is this child
hers?
he wondered in partial irritation.  She’d certainly never mentioned
having a
son
before, let alone the boy’s father she’d been
involved with, if not Roger.

He was also bothered due to her falsely having
him believe her innocent, when she apparently couldn’t be as much so as he’d
thought.  She’d told him repeatedly of her lack of association with men, yet if
this was true, then where did the child come from?

Despite his surprise over this news, he couldn’t
help but notice the affection she lavished on the boy, between cuddling him as
she told him her story and kissing his forehead now as she gently covered him
with a blanket.

Even after she left the room, Dominick lingered
to gaze upon the boy, finally deciding that it didn’t matter.  If the child was
hers, then he was fortunate indeed, even if his father had been too blind to
realize it.  And admittedly, the boy was a cute little one, he thought with a
fond smile.

Just before an unfamiliar male voice rang out
from the hallway, soon joined by Julianna’s, draining Dominick’s pleasant
thoughts to nothing instantly.

Eyes narrowing, he left the child to float
towards the direction of their voices, halted by a sight that chilled his
blood.  Although he missed the first part of what was said, Julianna was
talking to an older man. 
Much
too old for her!
he decided
absently, catching the tail end of their conversation.

“...fortunate to have such a loving husband,” he
heard Julianna say with a smile.  “I’m sure your son in there will take after
you in that respect someday.”

“Not for many years yet I hope,” laughed the
man.  “Considering how restless he was during our vacation, I’m just glad we’re
home again, since your imaginative stories always seem effective in putting
that energetic tyke to bed.”

“Well, thank you,” she replied, with a blush.

Smiling back, the man leaned forward to hug her,
bestowing a quick kiss upon her cheek.  “Julie, you must be tired yourself. 
Why don’t you head off to bed while I make sure Sammy isn’t sneaking in some
prehistoric wars in the dark with those toy dinosaurs of his?”

Julianna nodded once, afterwards returning to her
room.  Her brother-in-law Jerry certainly doted on his only child, although
perhaps that last fact might change if he could convince her sister otherwise
as he hoped.  A discussion which would have to wait until his wife and Vicki
got back from the late night movie they’d gone to see an hour ago.

As she shut the light and got into bed, she had
no idea that a certain man was scowling at her in the darkness.

A man who now gazed upon her with the pain of
betrayal, shaking his head against the apparent duplicity of her nature.  He’d
seen others betrayed by women of her type before, but never thought he’d
succumb to one himself.  Growing increasingly angrier at the thought, he
vanished with an unmistakably wry look filled with silent intent.

*****

Darkness encompassed Julianna as she walked
through a foggy atmosphere beneath the full moon.  According to her friends,
that type of moon always signified that people would be acting strange on
nights like this.  Perhaps not to the point of becoming werewolves—although
maybe there were a few—but strange people lurking about nonetheless.

Wonderful thoughts to carry in one’s mind late at
night!

Well, it didn’t matter, since she wasn’t far from
her castle.  Maybe it wasn’t the most elaborate one in the world for a
sorceress of her caliber, but then again, she was only one person and saw no need
for a monstrous museum of a home.

Her shimmering lavender satin gown swished about
her feet, hugging each and every curve like it was part of her, covered by
several gossamer veils of blue, green, and violet which deemed her a
sorceress.  Drawing her fur-lined, midnight-black cloak closer, she shivered
slightly.  The night air was crisp, even if it wasn’t altogether freezing.

Fortunately, her castle shouldn’t be far now,
since she’d walked this path countless times during the day.  Yet for some
reason, perhaps due to the darkness, her castle was still hidden from view. 
She could only hope the lunatics in the kingdom, influenced by the full moon,
weren’t prowling about just yet.  Not when she knew she was so close to home.

As she picked up her pace, a sudden ice-filled
voice froze her.

“What’s your hurry, lady?  Afraid of night
creatures?”

Julianna whipped about to see who dared address
her so, even as she knew instantly without seeing his face.  What she wasn’t
expecting was the cold unfathomable look in his eyes as the silver rays of the
moon shone upon him.

Yet it
was
him, as she now
remembered hearing him say before that he’d meet her here.  “It depends on the
type, I suppose,” she answered.  “Are you referring to evening night creatures,
or chivalrous
knight
creatures?”  At his continued silence, she
took it to assume that he hadn’t caught her pun, yet at the same time, she felt
the uneasy need for caution.

Something was wrong.

Has the full moon gotten to him too?
she wondered.

After an uncomfortable pause, he replied, “Why
should that bother a sorceress, when she can weave
spells
?” 
And
lies!
his angry thoughts added, barely containing the words.

“You know, I nearly forgot that.  Thanks for
reminding me.”  Her attempt to break the ice only met with more silence.  “So,”
she continued lightly, “since I’m the local sorceress around here, have you
decided to play my resident knight in truth?”  Hoping to rekindle his former
easygoing manner from their earlier meetings, she flashed him a smile.

She was surprised when he didn’t return the
gesture.

“Truth?” he exclaimed, striding forward with
folded arms and a forced smile.  “Ah, yes, let’s speak of that for a moment.  I
find it a most peculiar word to be coming from you, since deception seems more
fitting.”  She wanted to protest, but his eyes stopped her with their cold
amusement.  Yet beneath this... was that a look of pain in them as well?

“You seem to understand deception as well, since
you’re not acting like yourself at all,” she replied, resting one hand against
his arm.  He flinched from her touch as if singed by fire.  “What’s wrong,
Dominick?” she pressed, more quietly.  “I thought you wanted us to meet again,
or weren’t you the one who asked me?”

He considered her words for a moment before
laughing without humor.  “You’re right.  It was my idea, wasn’t it?  Well, no
matter, after this evening you’ll never have to worry about that again, since
tonight is good-bye.”

“Good-bye?” she whispered in confusion.  “But
why?  I don’t understand.  I thought...”

“You thought I’d never notice your web of lies
that you’ve tried to ensnare my sympathy with,
lady
,” he sneered,
hissing the last.  “But those self-same lies have managed to tangle you up in
them as well.”

“Lies?” she protested, a touch of irritation in
her own voice now.  “Since when have I ever lied to you?  Or have you forgotten
it was
you
who played the mystery stranger lately?”

“No!” he interrupted.  “You’ll not continue to
cuckold me with your false innocence.”  A weak smile creased his expression. 
“I thought I understood you once, Julianna.  I believed your words of
unhappiness and loneliness, and I wasn’t going to rush things with you.  I even
considered leaving you forever, since I thought you deserved better.  But
now...”  He gave a forced laugh.  “To think that you were so easily lying to
me, and I’ve just been wasting my time with you.  Well, no more, lady.  No
more.  Tonight the charade ends once and for all.”

Julianna had never been one to stand for
accusations without reason, and now glared at him with undisguised anger of her
own.  “Now see here, Dominick, everything I told you before was true, whether
you believe it or not.  And if there’s something else that I don’t know about,
then you’d better damn well tell me what it is!”

He shot her a crooked smile, his eyes narrowing. 
“Why don’t you ask your husband for the answer to that?” he hissed.

“My
what
?” she yelled, leaving the
anger in his expression undiminished.

“I said your
husband
!”

Before she could even think where he’d developed
this conclusion, both had their attention diverted by an ear-shattering roar
nearby.  So loud that the ground started to quake, shaking Julianna backwards. 
Without a second thought, Dominick reached out to catch her.

Even when the ground rumbling stopped, he still
held her.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“A bit shaken up, but yes,” she whispered.  “What
was
that?”

“I’m not sure,” he replied, “but seeing how your
dreams have a tendency to turn into nightmares, I have a feeling we’re soon to
find out.”  Abruptly, he faced her with renewed anger.  “What happened this
time?  Were you watching a monster movie before telling bedtime stories to your
son?”

“Oh, so now I have a son too?” she snapped,
pushing away from him just before her eyes opened wide.  A husband... and a son? 
The realization hit her instantly.  He must have seen and thus assumed... 
Well, he was certainly in for a surprise!

But before she could tell him the truth, another
one dawned.  The story she’d told Sammy before was happening here.  She was
dressed as a sorceress, Dominick was obviously the knight, so that must mean...