Black Blood (Series of Blood Book 4) Emma Hamm (popular novels txt) 📖

still foggy and difficult to see through. But some threads are stronger than others now. I believe I may be able to start unraveling. It’s not any kind of prediction, I can’t see past the pieces I unravel. But it’s a start.”

“Are we going to plan around that?”

“Tomorrow. We can speak with Burke, I think the Dream World will be the easiest place to find Malachi.”

“And then we fight?"

She rolled over and cupped his face between her hands. “Are you itching for a battle?”

“It has been a long time since I have seen bloodshed, and I will admit even my siblings are hungry.”

His eyes turned into slices of obsidian. They sparked with malice even in the darkness of the night. It made her shiver. Pitch rarely made her frightened of him, but she was certain he held parts of himself apart from her. For that, she was grateful. She already contained more of his tainted darkness than she wanted to.

“A battle has always been the end game. It’s merely when or where it happens that I need to predict.”

“Then let’s bring the first battle to him, yes? It may not be the war just yet, but we’ll be prepared.”

“Tomorrow. No more talk of death and battle in our bed.”

He leaned forward, kissing her with all the abandon she associated with her man. Not with the monster, not with the beast, but with the man she loved.

“You want to me to go into the Dreaming?” Burke asked.

“Yes. I think it will be the best way to find Malachi. Dreams do not lie.”

“This doesn’t sound like a bad idea to anyone else?” he asked. “If we go into the Dreaming, if he’s devoured a Dream Walker recently, we’re going to our death. You die there and you die in real life.”

“He’s not going to kill you,” Lydia said.

“How can you even possibly say that?”

“Because I will be there. I have already battled him twice, and I can say with certainty that I can handle him. You get me to his dream, and I will distract him while you figure out where he is.”

They were all seated in the living room again. A warm fire crackled and a thick bear skin rug cushioned her feet. All the comforts in the world couldn’t have prepared her to have a child arguing with her.

And that was how she viewed them now. She’d been alive for nearly five hundred years and they thought they could question her?

“And what are you going to do if he kills you?”

“I already answered this question, I’m confident he won’t.”

“What if he kills me?”

“I won’t let him.”

“And what if he finds out we’re looking for him and he moves?”

Lydia’s fingers glowed. She felt the saliva in her mouth turn boiling hot and knew it was also molten gold. “Stop questioning me, Dream Walker.”

“You won't hurt someone you chose for the prophecy,” he muttered. “Threatening me with smoke coming out your nose is not going to make me do this any faster.”

“I did not choose you. Pitch chose you.”

At least that seemed to make Burke hesitate. He cleared her throat, leaned back, and nodded. “All right then. What’s your plan?”

“I just need to know where he is. Then Jasper and Pitch can teleport us all there. We prepare for war.”

“So soon?” Wren asked. “You only just arrived.”

“There is no time to wait, I’m afraid. Malachi and his legion grow stronger with every day. He is masking his future from me, likely thanks to the Five. They’re planning something that they don’t want me to see. That makes me nervous.”

It should make all of them nervous. Malachi was unpredictable on a good day. Not even catching the slightest glimpse of his plans would severely damage their ability to best him. Lydia worried that the Five knew her own plans. Having another God who could see into the future certainly aided them.

She was one woman. One voice. Yet, they had to list to her or all would be lost.

“Okay,” Burke said. “Okay, fine. But I’m not happy about it.”

“You don’t have to be happy about it. Everyone else, please go with Pitch and prepare. This may take a while or it may take a few moments. Either way, we won’t have much time once we locate him.”

She wasn’t a general. Hell, she had never even fought someone. Not really. Fending off Malachi’s advances hardly counted, and Lydia worried she would be in the way. The least she could do was locate him.

Wren leaned over and pressed a sound kiss against Burke’s lips. “Be safe.”

While the others filtered out of the room, guilt bloomed in her stomach and left an acrid taste of bile on her tongue. They didn’t deserve this. A battle meant someone might die. They had just found each other.

There was no way around it. These were the people she had chosen, and it was their fates which rode upon her shoulders. She took and sat next to Burke on the couch.

“I’ve been to the Dreaming before. I can help in whatever way I can.”

“Only Dream Walkers can pass through the Dreaming. I can try to nudge your bubble in his direction once I locate him and merge the dreams. But that’s the best I can do.”

“I can break free from my dream. Wait for me there, and I will join you.”

“Okay then, let’s fly.”

Lydia didn’t wait for his startled expression, nor was she going to explain herself. She dropped out of the real world and slid into the Dreaming.

Tranquility awaited her. Soft filtered light played across her hair as she looked up through water and stared at the muted sun. She hadn’t expected her mind to place her underwater, but it was pleasant in a strange way. It eased her worries, placing her in the quiet state she would need once Malachi spat accusations at her again.

She would be happy once he was gone. The more altercations she had with the Void, the less she liked him.

The current carried her to