Dreamcatchers

ii

"Have you two slept together yet?" The Puppeteer asked, and Bryce's jaw clenched at the brusque question.

"No," he spat, to which Haylei's gaze swiveled over to him. A warning, not a look of surprise. At this point, Bryce Kim didn't think anything could surprise her.

"Don't speak to him. He uses words," she hissed, and he nodded, shutting his mouth. Much like her Mentor, Haylei carried an aura of "I-know-I'm-right"ness about her pretty much constantly, except she didn't like to remind people of that like Maximum did. And despite their being best friends, Max's arrogance made Bryce a little more than upset.

The Puppeteer tilted his head, and the shadows behind him laughed, a cacophony of screeches, animal cries, and the occasional car horn. All created from the noises of people's dreams.

"I didn't-" the lanky figure flew through the air, its sentence cut off as Max dove forward, a snarl ripping from his throat. Pivoting around the first few Terrors that moved to counteract him, he yanked his twin guns from their holsters and pulled their triggers, dissolving the creatures who'd leapt at him.

"Healer!" Bryce startled, and Haylei's hummed under her breath as she lowered her stance. Max'd spoken in their native tongue, and while it didn't sound the absolute best, the inflections in his speech were all correct. Leave it to Lane to be good at whatever he wanted to do.

A stroke of jealousy smashed through Bryce even as he holstered Solar and pressed his hands together.

"Let these dreamers rest." The rapid-fire of Max's guns nearly jolted him from his peaceful state.

"Let these Terrors run in the field of the Beyond." Haylei swung her daggers, piercing them into the Terror that'd come a bit too close to the pair.

"Dreams that are, that will be, that were, I release you into forever. Latom."

"Latom," Max breathed.

"Latom," Haylei whispered.

"You think your stupid prayer will do any good?" The Puppeteer asked, and Bryce nearly went for Solar again. Not like it'd do any good against the very much human man controlling all the Terrors. "Exactly." The man gave a single flick of his fingers, and Bryce froze, waiting for more nightmares to come crawling down the side of the building.

None came, but in the next second, Haylei shoved him to the side and raised her daggers into an x-shape in front of her. No such luck. The needle, much too small to block, plunged into the skin of her hand.

"She's gonna go under," Max stated as he stalked around the man who now stood alone, the lights of the city beginning to flicker on around them. Bryce checked his watch. 4:45. The Puppeteer would have less Terrors to control as the world awoke, but as they'd all just seen, it didn't make him any less dangerous.

"Afraid there's something else on the needle," Haylei mumbled, words already slurring as Max reloaded his weapon. Bryce tore his focus away from his best friend- who he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt could take down their opponent- and grasped Haylei's shoulders. 

"Like what?" He asked softly, reassuringly as he helped her to lean against the apartment building. She gulped, and Bryce knew that whatever it was, it couldn't have been good.

Haylei's head slouched, and Bryce scrambled to pull the smelling salts from its holster, passing them under her nose, "I-it's a..."

"Poor thing," the Puppeteer cooed, and it took all the self-control Bryce had not to charge at him, "She can't speak, so I guess I'll do it for her." His gaze shifted towards Bryce's teammate, friend, and... whatever she was. "I'm honestly not sure what it is. Got it off the black market."

"Sir," Max interrupted, lifting his gun to the man's temple, "Even though I'm under strict instruction to hold you here until the police arrive, if you keep talking I may just blow your goddamn brains out."

Bryce just wasn't sure what to say anymore, especially not when he turned back to Haylei only to see sweat coating her forehead.

"Take off my coat." Bryce obeyed, and used the sleeve of his own sweater to wipe the sweat off her face.

"Lei, it's thirty degrees. Tell me what was on the needle."

———

Haylei didn't want to tell Bryce what was on the needle because she was pretty sure that it was an aphrodisiac. She'd always gotten pretty good grades in forensics classes in training, so with the side effects of intense sweating, visual hallucinations, and also a heightened state of arousal, Haylei knew Bryce had to stop touching her.

The approaching whirs of the police sirens hardly registered as she focused on not passing out, and Bryce took her hands in his large ones. Embarrassingly enough, just that single touch nearly sent tears to her eyes.

"I'm going to keep you safe, little one," he promised, and Haylei cursed as a tear slipped down her cheek.

"That's my job, isn't it?" Bryce laughed, and so did she. His laugh could cure sickness. His laugh could brighten the skies. She loved his laugh. Another tear fell, and he cupped her face in his hand, brushing it away. And guided by the tugging of the drug, Haylei turned her head slightly, pressing a soft kiss against the palm of his hand.

The police sirens stopped as their cars pulled up to the sidewalk, and even as she struggled to get to her feet to help Max brief them, Haylei couldn't help but notice the hooded, darkened look in Bryce's eyes.