Page 88 of Visions in Blood

“She’s suffered from nightmares for decades.But not ordinary dreams.She claims they’re other people’s dreams that she’s pulled into.Realistic dreams, as if she’s really in another place.”

I fell back.Was she like me?“A dreamwalker?”

He shook his head.“She’s vampire.From what I’ve discerned—and you have to understand that I’ve dug through hundreds of books searching for any mythical legends about dreamwalkers—one can be one or the other but not both.Anything written on the topic is extremely rare, but it appears that dreamwalkers are a different species in the way vampires, shifters, and humans are all different.”

“And these dreams she’s pulled into, does she recognize anyone?”I wasn’t sure that was the best question, considering everything he just dumped on me, but there was someone else experiencing what I was.It was hard to track what that meant.

“I believe another dreamwalker is trying to communicate with her.Or perhaps they have, and she simply refuses to share the details.”His laugh was short and possibly half-mad.“For all that she’s suffered these years, she has a strong personality, and while she has her—I suppose episodes is the best word for it—she does what she wants and when she wants, though she’s learned to live within certain boundaries.”

I leapt up and began pacing.Devon stopped talking and simply watched me as I blazed a trail over the carpet.The woman I’d seen at the grave markers was thin and on the smaller side.I’d only seen drapes shift in the third-floor window.Was it a trick of the light or had I spotted a flash of blonde hair?

“She was the woman in the shifter house.The one with my necklace.”I had turned to face him, and his expression confirmed it.

Before my legs gave out, I made it back to my chair, and he took my hands again.His were so warm, mine must be freezing.

“I don’t know how it happened.The two of us never shared a dream.It’s only happened with you.Maybe if she’d been able to share with me, I would have been able to help her sooner.”

“It was the necklace.”Nothing else made sense.And I croaked out a laugh.Did any of this?

“That’s my belief as well.”

“Did she fall into a coma afterwards?”

He shook his head.“I want you to meet her.”

I nodded.“Yes.”Maybe he was right, and she wasn’t a dreamwalker, but it appeared she could control the necklace.Maybe control was too strong a word, but she could wear the necklace without repercussions.

There was a brief knock at the door before it opened.I hadn’t expected the meeting to be right now.

Sergi walked in holding the hands of a pixie.There wasn’t any other word for it.She was tiny, yet it was easy to see she wasn’t a child.Though slight of build, she filled out her diaphanous gown with all the right curves.

She gripped Sergi’s hand, but there wasn’t any fear in her shocking blue eyes, so similar to Devon’s.And though her hair was a light golden blonde to his darker ash color, the resemblance was obvious from the eyes to the nose.But her lips were different.

She never took her eyes from me as the two walked hesitantly toward me.

“Hello, Cressa.”Her voice was like lyrics on the wind.Her eyes smiled at me, though her lips barely twitched.So like Devon.

“Hello, Lyra.”

She seemed to like that.We stared at each other for what seemed like forever until Devon cleared his throat.

“Do you have something to say to Cressa?”

Her gaze dropped, and while her expression came across as sheepish, I caught the rebellious glance she gave him.Good grief, I knew that look.She could have been my twin.

“I’m sorry for taking your necklace without permission.”

I laughed.I couldn’t help it.The little imp was an exact duplicate of me.A quiet soul as she hid in her room, her fake ladylike responses, the rebel she tried to hide—had I been that transparent growing up?She was me right down to her sticky fingers.

“Should we sit?”Sergi asked.

Lyra tugged on his hand as she backed up.“Not now.This isn’t the right time.”Then she pulled away from his hand and ran for Devon.She jumped into his lap, surprising him as much as Sergi.

She hugged him before kissing his forehead then placing her palm on his cheek.“It will all work out.She’ll save you.You’ll see.”

Then she jumped off and almost skipped back to Sergi to clasp his hand.She stared up at him.“I want to go back to my room now.”

They were almost out the door when she tugged Sergi to a stop and turned to me.“It was nice meeting you, Cressa.We’ll see each other soon.”

Then they were gone.

I stared at the door for several minutes before turning to Devon.“What the hell?”

He shrugged.“Her words rarely make sense.But I think she’s prescient.Just like you.”

“Like I said, what the hell?”

He reached over and stroked my cheek, and I covered his hand with my own.“I know this is a lot to take in.I’ve not been able to put much together, but that’s why we need to either find your father or someone who can tell us about the necklace and the dreams.”

I had dozens of questions but no idea where to begin.I needed time to soak it in and put some type of order to it.So, I asked the one thing foremost on my list.“What time do we leave?”