Emma followed the DHS lady and she thought about her words and wondered who she was trying to convince―Darla and Wayne or herself. She had just traded a life with Mildred and all of her mess for a life with the man who had created Mildred and helped make her the mess she was. Any words of wisdom now, mama? She thought to herself. The only thing that came to mind wasn’t something her mama had said. It was something her daddy had told her. “People will underestimate you, Emma Jean. Like bringing a tooth pick to a sword fight, they will come unprepared for how to engage someone like you. Your job is to always make sure your weapon is prepared for battle. Your weapon is your mind. Keep it sharp by never doing drugs or drinking. Keep it healthy by feeding it wholesome things. Keep it intact by not allowing in the lies of others.” Emma shook her head at her father’s words. “Why couldn’t my parents ever just talk like normal parents?” she muttered under her breath.
“Because that would have meant they had a normal child,” Raphael answered unexpectedly. They had finally made it out of the hospital and were now walking through the cold parking lot. The DHS lady hadn’t stopped typing away on her phone since they got in the elevator.
“So you’re saying I’m not normal?” she asked him.
“I’m saying you’re extraordinary.”
“Who are you talking to, Emma?” The woman asked as she turned back to look at her.
Emma glanced at Raphael from the corner of her eye before looking up at the woman innocently. “My guardian angel.”
The woman paused in mid step and tilted her head, examining Emma as if she were a bug under a microscope. After several seconds she shrugged. “Well that’s sweet, dear. It’s always nice to think someone is watching over us.” Her voice was patronizing, as though she were speaking to a little child. Then again―Emma thought―she supposed to the DHS lady, she was just a little child. She didn’t realize that Emma had more knowledge in her pinky than the woman had acquired in her entire life. Just as her father had said, the woman had underestimated her.
“Well,” Emma began, attempting to hold back the smile. “My mama said that we all had to have guardian angels watching over us.”
“Oh, why did she think we had to?” the DHS lady asked.
“She said we had to have guardian angels because it wasn’t a coincidence that God calls us sheep.”
The woman paused again and gave her a questioning look, before finally smashing the button on her key fob to a red Honda Accord. “I still don’t understand,” she said as she motioned for Emma to get in the back seat. “What does being called sheep have anything to do with needing someone watching over us?”
“Sheep are the dumbest animal ever created. They literally cannot survive without a shepherd. In fact sheep are so stupid that they will walk right off the end of a cliff unless something or someone guides them away from it.” Emma paused while the woman started the car and fastened her seatbelt. She could tell that the DHS lady was thinking about her words. And because Emma had had a rough night, she couldn’t help but mess with the lady just a little more. “So really, if my mama’s logic is correct, perhaps, it isn’t nice to have someone watching over us. Perhaps, it’s actually rather insulting.”
Raphael was sitting next to her in the back seat. Of course, the DHS lady had no clue. He looked at Emma and then back to the lady who looked to be in pain as she tried to reason out what Emma had said.
They drove in silence for quite a while before the lady who had mentioned briefly that her name was Frieda, which Emma found odd because she thought she looked more like a Jennifer, finally spoke up. “So what is your answer to the question? Is it nice or is it insulting?”
Emma waited until Frieda’s eyes met hers in the rearview mirror and then answered in her best sheep voice. “Baaaaah.”
Raphael was shaking his head at her as he laughed. “You know she does not understand what you just did?”
Emma shrugged. “That only adds further proof that my mama was right.” Frieda didn’t say anything more the rest of the drive.
About an hour later, Raphael turned and looked at Emma. His eyes were somber and his lips tight. “There are more than just sheep in this world, Emma.” He paused. “You saw that tonight with Rat and your aunt.”
“Wolves in sheep’s clothing,” Emma muttered as she remembered the inhuman look that had been in Rat’s eyes and in her aunt’s. Raphael had said they had been possessed by demons, and Emma had no doubt in her mind that they had been.
“I do not understand all that is going on, but I will tell you that the demon I destroyed tonight had a mission, and it was to destroy you. He did not complete that mission.”
She looked up at him; her eyes narrowed. “You think the demons want me dead?”
“The evil one wants you dead, for whatever reason, and he will use whatever resources he can to make that happen.”
Emma saw Frieda’s eyes widen as she glanced in her rear view mirror. Emma tried to give her a sweet, I’m not crazy, reassuring smile. The woman shivered and Emma was pretty sure she hadn’t succeeded.
“I want you to be aware, Emma. Mildred did not seem to think highly of her father. What did I tell you about the types of people that draw evil to themselves? They are weak minded, easily influenced. That is where the minions go.”
Emma understood what the angel was saying, but she didn’t understand what made her a target for a bunch of demons.
“We need to get you back in Darla and Wayne’s custody as quickly as possible,” he continued. “I may have to enlist a friend to help keep an eye on you while I speak with Darla. Her spirit is open and she believes in the supernatural. She is a good ally to have.”
Emma perked up a little. “I get two guardian angels?” Silly? Maybe. She was an eight-year-old genius in DHS custody; she’d take her kicks where she could get them.
Raphael’s eye twinkled as he looked down at her. “I told you; you’re extraordinary.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “One could also argue that a sheep that needs two shepherds is just twice as stupid.”
Raphael shook his head at her logic. Emma was one of those rare humans with which he could debate for hours the various angles from which a situation could be viewed. She truly was extraordinary. She settled back in the seat and closed her eyes. There was more he could tell her, more that might help prepare her for whatever it was that was brewing, but she had already been through so much. After having a gun pointed at her and watching her friend be shot, then having to endure being told that she was being taken away from the people she’d come to love as family, she needed a break. She was resilient, and strong, but everyone had a limit. So for now, in the quiet of the car of a woman Emma didn’t know, going to a place she’d never been, Raphael would give her the small amount of peace that he could. He laid his hand on her forehead and whispered something in a language only his kind understood and then watched as the sleeping child relaxed. He didn’t know what her future held, but he knew that whatever it was he would be by her side. She had lost her mother and her father, and Raphael could not bring them back to her, but he could offer the support and protection that they should have been able to give her.
His attention was drawn away from her when the human female’s phone started playing some hideous song. She answered it in the voice Raphael had come to recognize as her own. But after several minutes, her voice changed. He watched the woman called Frieda in the rearview mirror and listened as she spoke.
“I have her. No, there were no problems.” There was a pause and then she spoke again. “She mentioned a guardian angel.” Pause. “Well then how was he destroyed?” She growled in a deep voice.
Raphael tensed. He could not sense a demon in the woman, but he knew something was very wrong.
“It will be taken care of,” Frieda huffed. She tossed the phone onto the seat and then glanced back in the mirror at the sleeping form of Emma. Her eyes narrowed before finally looking back at the road. She let out a slow breath as she spoke. “Who
are you little one and what have you done?”
Raphael looked down at Emma and then back to Frieda who couldn’t hear him. “The better question, human, is what will she do?”
Epilogue
“Sometimes your dreams don’t mean anything. They are just dreams. It is not wise to put meaning where it does not belong.”
Dair knelt, his head bowed low as he approached his Creator. He felt the warmth from his light and the peace that only came in his presence. But that wasn’t what he’d come for.
“You know why I’ve come.” His voice was steady, but there was no mistaking the pain in his words.
“I know that you love her,” the Creator spoke. “I created her. Think how much more she means to me, Brudair.”
“You do not lose her either way. If she lives or she dies, she will still be yours.” Dair’s words came out in heavy breaths as emotions he was still learning how to control swamped him. “I’ve only just met her. Her life has just begun.”
“What do you want, Brudair?”
“I WANT HER TO LIVE,” Dair roared as his shoulders shook. He kept his head bowed though it was an effort to remain kneeling when he wanted to rant and rave over the loss he was feeling.
“Then go tell her that.”
Dair’s head nearly snapped up.
“You can make each other stronger or weaker,” the Creator continued. “She will now be a consideration in every aspect of your life, your choices, and your purpose. She will be a part of you. That is what a mate is. Is she your choice?”
“She is,” he answered without pause.
“Then go and find out if you are hers.”
When Dair raised his head, he realized that he was no longer in the throne room but now in the quiet hall of the hospital. The clock hanging on the stark white wall said that it was three in the morning, and the sign next to it told him he was in the ICU. He didn’t have to ask the nurse at the station where she was, he could feel her. As though they were connected by a rubber band that had been stretch apart and was now rebounding back, she pulled him to her. Dair closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he was standing beside her bed.
The lights on the machines around her blinked on and off like blaring hazard lights warning him to be careful. She was fragile, nearly broken, and he had been unable to save her. Dair reached out a hand and gently brushed some stray hair from her face. She looked peaceful. The pain and fear that had been on her face the last time he’d seen her were gone, replaced by her namesake―serenity. She was his princess of peace and yet she had gone to battle.
“I know it’s not fair to ask you to stay. I’ve seen how dark this world can be. But I’ve also seen how amazing it can be, and I want to experience those things with you.” Dair closed his eyes and pushed his mind into hers, seeking her out in her dreams. He found her sitting by a stream surrounded by trees and a night sky lit up by thousands of stars.
“Why are you still here?” Dair asked her as he sat down beside her.
“I’ve been waiting on you.”
This surprised him. “You couldn’t wake up to wait for me?”
“It’s peaceful here,” Serenity said as she pointed to the rippling water. “Nobody is pointing guns or threatening innocent little girls.” Though she said the words lightly, they were heavy with the weight of her fear and pain.
“And I’m going to ask you to come back to that world.” Dair lifted her chin so her eyes would meet his. “But before I do, let me ask you this. What do you want, Sarah Serenity?”
A smile pulled at her lips. “Someone else asked me that today.”
“Oh?” Dair tilted his head slightly. “What was your answer?”
She laughed. “You can’t possibly ask a girl what she wants and expect her to have only one answer.”
Dair shrugged. “I’m still learning.” He shuttered as her fingers ran up his arm and across his collar bone to his lips. Her eyes held his and he wouldn’t have been able to turn away if he wanted to. She captivated him.
“I want to live, Dair. Whatever that entails, I want it.” She paused and suddenly the confidence she had just worn like a comfortable pair of jeans wavered. “And I want you.”
Dair would like to say that he remained composed and didn’t kiss her senseless in her dream, but he tried not to lie if he could help it. He placed both hands on her face and pulled her close to him. Their lips were nearly touching; both their breaths were coming out in rapid succession as he whispered, “Then you have me.” He didn’t give her time to respond before pressing his lips to hers. The kiss was fierce, but quick. Dair pulled back and smiled down at her. “Now wake up so I can do that for real.”
Dair slipped out of her mind and watched as her eyes blinked. Gradually, they opened. The room was dim and yet she still had to squint against what little light there was. When her eyes finally found his face, her lips spread into a smile so bright that it lit every dark place in his soul.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.” Dair sat on the edge of her bed and traced her jaw with the tips of his fingers. He didn’t want to stop touching her, assuring himself that she was alive and with him.
“How is Emma?” Serenity asked as she studied him just as intently as he did her.
“She’s safe,” Dair assured her, unaware of all that had taken place while he’d been gone.
Serenity smiled. “She deserves to be more than just safe.”
“You’re right; she does. I have a feeling your aunt and Uncle Wayne make sure that happens. And we will be there every step of the way.”
She was quiet, just watching him watch her.
“So what happens now?” She finally asked.
“Well, right now,” Dair’s voice dropped as he leaned closer. “I’m going to pick up where your dream left off. Everything else can wait.”
Just before his lips touched hers, she stopped him with a hand to his chest. “This isn’t going to be easy is it?”
He understood that she was talking about a relationship between him, the Sandman, and her, a mortal human. He wouldn’t lie to her. “No, beautiful, it isn’t going to be easy.” Dair leaned in and stole a kiss lingering for just a moment as he let her taste and scent saturate him before whispering, “But I promise it will be worth it.” He kissed her again but pulled back when she would have taken it deeper. She was tired and needed rest and that was something he could give her.
“You need to sleep. You will have a room full of people tomorrow all wanting your attention.”
“Will you stay? I mean, tonight, stay with me.”
“Always,” he told her gently.
She smiled up at him and settled back into the pillows of the hospital bed. “Then weave me a dream, Sandman.”
He chuckled. “Close your eyes, Princess.”
Serenity closed them but one eye snapped open as she said, “And make it a good one.”
From the Author
Thank you so very much for taking your time to read Dream of Me! I truly hope that you enjoyed it. I’ve always found the subject of the Sandman fascinating and though my twist on him was a little different, I hope I did him justice. If you are new to my work, thank you so much for taking a chance on my book! There is so much more to come in this series and the other series that I have written and I hope you will continue on the journey with me! God bless you and yours!
Quinn
Books by Quinn Loftis
Grey Wolves Series
Prince of Wolves
Blood Rites
Just One Drop
Out of the Dark
Beyond the Veil
Fate and Fury
Sacrifice of Love
Luna of Mine
Gypsy Healers Series
Into the Fae
Wolf of Stone
The Elfin Series
Elfin
Rapture
Iniquity (coming soon)
Dream Makers Series
Dream of Me
Stand Al
one Works
Call Me Crazy
Stalk Quinn:
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For your enjoyment Please enjoy these following excerpts!
Prince of Wolves, Book 1 The Grey Wolves Series
Quinn Loftis
Prince of Wolves is available as a FREE download!
Prince of Wolves
Chapter 1
Jacque Pierce sat in the window seat in her bedroom looking across the street at her neighbors house; she wasn’t really being nosy she thought to herself, just curious. “Yeah,” she snorted, “only if you call curious sitting in your window seat eyes glued to your neighbor’s house like a hound on the hunt at ten o’clock at night. I can call a spade, a spade tomorrow morning,” she told her conscience.
The Henry’s were having a foreign exchange student stay with them this year. They didn’t have any children of their own, though Jacque didn’t know if that was by choice or because they weren’t able to have children. She had promised Sally and Jen she would get the nitty-gritty on the situation and call them.
So here she sat in her window, scoping out the neighbor’s house with her lights turned off and blinds cracked just enough to see and to top off her “James Bond” experience, she even had binoculars! Now if she only had the nifty back ground music to go with her shenanigans. She had been sitting there for an hour already and was just about to give up when a black stretch limo pulled to the curb. Now isn’t this strange, she thought, a foreign exchange student arriving in a limo? She put the binoculars to her face and adjusted them to get a better look, settling them over the passenger door to see just who would emerge. She knew this was a little much but honestly in a town of 700 there just isn’t a whole lot of excitement and Jacque would take it where she could get it.