Second Skin (Skinned) by Judith Graves Read Free Book Online Page B

but.”
Kate lifted her head. “But if the night mare has gone power hungry, if its goal has changed, then with a source of energy such as mine, it would be easy for it to manifest in solid form. To manipulate my subconscious and project corporeal entities.”
At our exchange of doubtful glances, Kate continued, but much louder, as if volume would make us take her words seriously. “It feeds on high emotion, fear is the most base. If it brings our fears to life, it then has an endless supply. No need to wait for its victim to sleep. Everything—fears, fantasies, whatever your subconscious dreams up—would be fair game.”
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” I said. “Fantasies are good, right? Sexy?”
Matt snorted behind his hand. “No comment.”
Brit elbowed him in the ribs. “We all know about your supermodels obsession, so get over it.”
“Think about the population in Redgrave, Eryn,” Alec said, nodding. “What do werewolves, or dark sprites, witches, wolven”—he paused, his face hardening, his gaze cut to me— “even vampires fantasize about?”
Oh, I know the answer to that one.
A husky voice whispered in my mind. A cool rush feathered against the back of my neck on the exposed flesh between my pigtails. The warm caress of a seductive kiss. My entire body tingled.
Wade.
For a second my eyes fluttered shut. I fought for control, grabbing the back of a wood chair for support.
Damn, not now.
Alec cleared his throat. His dark eyes watched me from across the room.
A flush worked its way up my face.
I struggled to focus as Kate picked up the conversation. “They play with our minds, feed off dreams, discover our secret fantasies, our fears, and torment us with them asleep and awake.”
Sounded a lot like someone I knew. Wade? I sent out a call, but the feel of him, the sense of his presence had lessened. I shook my head, clearing out the smell of mint, and focused on Kate, aware Alec was watching me closely.
“In a town like Redgrave,” she said, “where not all the dreamers are merely human, the demons gain enough power to assume solid form. To project our suppressed emotions. This could be serious.” “How serious are we talking?” I asked, feeling back in the game. Wade really had to stop dropping in and messing with my
head.
She shrugged. “How bad are your nightmares?” A flash of me, gorging on a human.
The tang of blood in my mouth.
The words from that song we’d heard grinding out of that car earlier seemed suddenly too coincidental. Maybe something had been sending a message.
Maybe we were off to Neverland. I swallowed. Hard.
Oh, we were in for a world of hurt.

Iron never rests
 
I woke to the sound of rasping breath. Close. Above me. I feigned sleep, struggling to keep my breathing slow and relaxed. My skin crawled with the fetid weight of a ghoulish gaze that traveled along my shoulders bare but for the thin straps of my cami. Puffs of sour gas filled my nostrils.
Unrelenting pressure on my chest crushed the air from my lungs. I sucked in a slip of air. Needed more. I dragged in another ragged breath, but my ribs refused to expand. I began to cough.
My eyes flew open.
Decomposed flesh. Hollow, worm-filled sockets. Snapping teeth.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“You’re not real. You’re not real,” I said to myself and to the demon perched on my ribcage. I arched my back off the mattress, only to have my body slammed down into place. I attempted to twist, punch, push, or shove it off, but my limbs refused to cooperate. My struggles manifested as little more than a restless shift of my shoulders. The demon’s punishing weight paralyzed me.
I opened my mouth to scream, but only a sigh left my lips. I’d never been more desperate to move any part of my body. A finger. A toe. If this was what my wolf felt like, buried deep under my skin, I’d never hold her back again. To do so offered a slow, agonizing suffocation of the soul. Panic carved a hole in my stomach.
And still I couldn’t