Heat of the Night

Elite boots on and,' Aidan waved his hand over the pile on the table, 'all of this was hers.'

'Whacked out, eh?' Connor groaned and ran his hands through his hair, lacing his fingers together at his nape. 'As in creepy eyes and a serious need for dental work?'

Aidan stilled. 'That's why you're here.'

'Yep.'

'She had razor-sharp teeth and pitch black eyes. No sclera at all. How the hell is that possible?'

'According to the dreams I've been having, she's what happens when the Elders screw up.'

'Dreams?'

'I know.' Connor heaved out his breath. 'I don't know if my imagination is smarter than I gave myself credit for or if someone in the Twilight is communicating with me. In any case, I've had two almost-identical dreams. In each one Sheron finds me by the lake and tells me that the Elders tried to replicate the Medium slipstreams from the cavern inside the Temple and Nightmares infiltrated the streams, merging with the Guardians who made the journey, which created those 'whacked-out' things. He called them hybrids.'

Growling, Aidan rubbed at the back of his neck. 'We need to know if that's true or not.'

'No shit.' Raising his brows, Connor asked, 'You did kill her, right?'

'Right.'

'Good. That's one down.'

'Fuck.' Aidan's hand fisted, wadding up the bandage. 'How many are there?'

'Sheron said they sent ten Guardians through the first time and twenty the second time. There's no telling how many of them were infected. Remembering the games he used to play during training at the academy, I'm guessing they sent more than that and he's keeping the real number to himself.'

'I agree.' Standing, Aidan moved to the kitchen and tossed the waste in the trash. 'I need coffee,' he muttered. 'Lyssa and I haven't slept in two days. I spotted the redhead yesterday afternoon and we've been running nonstop ever since.'

'Red hair?' Red wasn't a natural color in their species. Pure white… various shades of blond and brown… hair so black it looked liquid, yes. Any shade of red, impossible.

'Yeah. It's what first caught my eye. Neon red. You couldn't miss it. It threw me off, because no Elite would deliberately draw attention to themselves.' Aidan snagged a bag of coffee beans from the freezer and tossed it on the counter. 'Now, I'm guessing the Nightmare's need to feed is what drove her to do it. Similar to waving a cape before a bull to bring it close enough to kill.'

'If we want to put stock in my dreams.'

Aidan grimaced. 'It might be crazy, but what else have we got to work with?'

Connor watched his friend move around the small galley kitchen with quiet efficiency, pulling mugs from the dishwasher and filling the coffeemaker with water.

'You look happy,' he noted. Aidan had a loose-limbed grace and easy smile that hadn't been seen in ages. In fact, that inner contentment had been absent for so long, Connor had forgotten Aidan ever had it.

'I am,' Aidan said.

'Do you ever get homesick?'

'All the time.'

The ready reply startled Connor. 'You don't show it. You look centuries younger.' The silver strands that once lined Aidan's temples were far less numerous. They were now barely noticeable unless one was actively searching for them.

'You've been in my head. You know why.'

Yes, Connor knew why. Having melded with Aidan's subconscious, he had experienced Aidan's existence in live action and living color. He had felt the way Aidan did when Lyssa was near, felt the emotions she aroused with a single touch or a loving glance, felt the depth of Aidan's hunger when Lyssa made love to him with wild, fervent abandon. Their connection was hauntingly intimate. The few times Connor had met with Aidan in the dream state, it felt like trespassing to share those memories.

'I'm sure you hate it here,' Aidan said, looking at him over the breakfast bar, 'but I'm glad you came. There's less to be homesick about with you around. Plus, I realize now that I need help and there's no one I trust more than you.'

Connor looked away, unsure of how to reply. Aidan was like a brother to him, but he didn't know how to say it. 'You know I'm always looking for an opportunity to throw down and kick some ass,' he hedged gruffly. 'Wager's the go-to-guy when it comes to figuring out the technical aspects of what's going on. I'm the muscle. Always have been. Really don't think I have it in me to be anything more than that.'

'I think you underestimate yourself.' Aidan smiled with an ease Connor hadn't seen since their academy days. Dressed in knee-length khaki shorts and a bright blue T-shirt, he looked very human. 'You're the biggest guy I know and the bravest, but you're also intuitive and…'

'Shut up. You're embarrassing me.' Aidan's praise warmed Connor in a way very few things could. He admired his best friend and commanding officer, always had. Aidan was born to lead, a solid anchor to grasp in any situation.

'I know. Your face is red.'

'Asshole.'

Aidan laughed.

Connor quickly changed the subject. 'We broke into the Temple and downloaded what we could before I was attacked by one of those Nightmare aberrations.'

'Did you get anything useful?' Aidan asked, alert.

'Wager's still digging, but he found out that the Elders-in-training in the tubes are batteries of some sort.'

'Batteries? Like a power source?'

'Exactly. The interior of the tubes are filled with energy. That's keeping the guys alive without food and water. The whole time we were thinking something was providing power to the tubes, but it's the reverse. The tubes are providing power for something else. We haven't figured out what yet.'

Aidan frowned. 'I suppose it's possible. We exist because of cellular energy. The tubes must tap into that.'

'That's what Wager said. There are thousands of those tubes, so either they give off very little power-in which case, why use them?-or whatever they're hooked up to requires tremendous amounts of energy.'

Aidan stood there, frozen. 'How could they have kept all of this hidden for so long?'

'We let them.' Connor pushed up from the chair and stretched. 'Guardians like me who were too busy wandering aimlessly through life to give a shit. I feel like an idiot. A blind, stubborn idiot.'

'You trusted those who swore to protect us. There's nothing to be ashamed of.'

'Whatever,' Connor scoffed. 'I'm a moron. You've got to feel vindicated, though. You were right.'

'It's not vindication I feel,' Aidan said wearily, holding up an empty mug in silent query. 'Pissed off and sick to my stomach is more like it.'

Connor shook his head in response to the offer of coffee. 'So where do we go from here? Where the hell do we begin?'

'With what we've got.' Aidan filled two mugs, preparing one with cream and sweetener before drinking the one he kept black. He left a clean cup by the coffeepot for Stacey and the sight of that lone vessel did something odd to Conner. The urge to know how she liked her coffee took him by surprise. Such a minor detail, barely personal, and yet it mattered to him. He frowned.

'I thought I spotted Elder Rachel at an auction once,' Aidan continued, leaning back into the counter edge and holding his green Rainforest Cafe mega mug with both hands. 'I can't be sure since it's been ages since she left the Elite and joined the Elders, but the resemblance was uncanny and I can't think of anyone more likely to want to come here.'

An image of a raven haired Guardian came to Connor's mind. 'I saw that memory when I visited with you in the dream state. We talked about her being an excellent warrior. I think I served with her at the Gateway once. She's a bad-ass chick if I ever saw one. Loves combat.'

All Guardians who wished to join the ranks of the Elite were required to spend a month at the Gateway as an initiation to the most extreme rigors of their job. The vast majority of fledglings failed to last the miniscule length of time required. Only a month, a drop in the endless well of time in their lives, but at the Gateway, it felt like an