Page 97 of Daman

I woke the next morning in a cold sweat. The sun hadn’t risen yet. My breaths were rough, and nerves tangled into my gut.

Warrin lay beside me, the planes of his face smooth as he slept. He stirred as I got out of bed.

“Are you all right?”

“Yeah.” I gave him a quick peck on the lips. “Go back to sleep.”

I tugged on a sweater and pants before walking into the hall and shutting the door behind me. The guest bedroom doors were still closed, and I sensed my brothers inside each of them. Their minds were at rest, which told me they were asleep. I went downstairs as quietly as I could and started a pot of coffee.

I couldn’t shake my dream. Something about it had been so real. Familiar.

“Morning.”

I jumped and whirled around to see Gray sitting at the kitchen island, wrapped in a blanket, his blond hair tousled. I’d been too deep in thought to sense him. I seriously needed to get a handle on myself.

“Who’s the man from the cave?” he asked.

“What?”

“I was awake when you had that dream. Your feelings were so strong I saw into your head. What did he mean about the serpent? And us dying?”

“Us?”

“The seven brothers drawing their last breath.” Gray rested his face on his hands, cheeks puffing up. “That’s us, right?”

The air left my lungs, and I braced myself on the counter to keep from toppling over. I felt so weak all of a sudden. A light thud sounded behind me as Gray hopped off the barstool and rushed over.

“You okay?”

“I…” My throat squeezed. Images flooded my head: me gathering ironwort near the ridge, a strong wind knocking me off-balance, my body bloody and broken as I hit the ground. A strange man taking me into a cave. “It wasn’t a dream. It was a memory.”

Steps sounded on the stairs. Castor and Bellamy appeared seconds later, worry marring their faces. They’d felt the intensity of my emotions.

“What’s going on?” Castor asked, voice scratchy from sleep.

I was shaking. I couldn’t stop.

“D?” Bellamy came over. “Talk to us.”

“Before Lazarus took me, I lived in Dacia,” I said, my voice trembling just like my body. “I knew nothing about angels and demons. One day, I fell off a ridge. Looking back now, I’m sure I snapped my spine and broke my neck. Something that would’ve killed an ordinary human, but I didn’t know I was a Nephilim back then. A man found me.”

“The man with the scar,” Gray said, nodding.

“Yeah.” I cleared my throat and steadied myself against the counter. Warrin entered the kitchen, his eyes locked onto mine as he closed the distance between us. Right when his arms came around my waist and his scent enveloped me, I felt stronger. “He warned me.”

“Warned you about what?” Bellamy asked.

“Our death.” The words came out as a whisper. “He said it would begin on a winter’s night when snow freezes in the air.” I looked up at Warrin. “The night Asa came to you and stopped time. That was the catalyst that set this into motion.”

“Who was he?” Castor asked. Kyo appeared beside him.

“I don’t know. He never told me his name. But he wore a necklace with some kind of glowing stone inside of it.” Another piece of the puzzle slid into place. “Before Lazarus came for me, a soldier attacked me and my friend Lycus. He had pitch-black eyes, and his voice sounded off.”

“He was possessed by a demon,” Bellamy said.

I nodded. “At that time, Lucifer was ordering demons to infiltrate armies and spread chaos amongst the humans, inciting war and bloodshed. So it makes sense. But maybe there was another reason Lucifer set his eyes on Dacia that day.”

“You think he was after the man you met?” Warrin tightened his hold around me.