Lunar Rising

Nightmares Are Real

Aura's Pov: 

The landscape was dark and surreal. The trees swayed back and forth in the dark, creaking loud cries into the night. 

The shadows of the branches played tricks on my mind as they danced back and forth in the nipping wind. 

Fine hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end against my skin. I could feel the presence of another nearby, camouflaged in the shadows, lurking.

This was another nightmare, and I could feel it, but no matter what attempts I made, I could not snap myself out of it. 

The creaking trees screeched and groaned louder as the air stirred around me. 

"Show yourself! I know you are there." I said, now on guard. 

An unpleasant chuckled echoed on the breeze. 

A man, the same as before, stepped out from the shadows with his thick biceped arms folded across his chest. 

"Very perceptive pup." He sang in an arrogant tone. 

His sharp eyes glared at me menacingly. They appeared hollow and somehow dead like a walking corpse. There was no light in them.

He reached his hand up to his prickly, unkempt chin to stoke it curiously. 

"I see you've awoken girl, where are my manners?" He mocked while giving me a fake, condescending bow, exaggerating a swivel of his wrist as he did.

"I felt it. The moment your powers awoke in you. And now, I will be able to feel you wherever you go. You can never hide form me now. In a way, we are connected. The power that flows through your veins once flowed through mine. Even though they are gone from me now, I can still feel the old connection that was once there." He smirked

He walked closer to me, sizing me up and down like competition. 

"So, this is what they went with. A little girl was a better choice than me?" He laughed callously. 

His feigned humor transitioned into a fierce disgust for me. 

He was close to me now, close enough to reach out and touch me if he wanted. I didn't move. I didn't want to show him that he scared me. Instead, I raised my chin slightly and stood up straighter in defiance. 

He reached his hand out to grab one of my free-flowing curls of hair and I swatted him away quick. His eyes were slightly shocked from my boldness, but he recovered his composure quickly. 

He laughed again, but this time it was a deep and dense one. He gripped his stomach and leaned back howling in laughter as his body shook. 

"You're a brave one!" He said, pretending to wipe a tear away from the corner of his eye. 

"Didn't anyone tell you to respect your elders?" He sneered as he threw his hand flying into the air.  The backside of his large hand made contact painfully with my cheek, throwing my body like a rag doll to the ground. 

His strength was unimageable! He just backhanded me with the force of a truck!

I sat up, baring my teeth at him, daring him to get closer to me. 

The stinging in my face was intense, but I was preparing for a fight. 

"What is this?", I screamed. " Why are you stalking my dreams?!" I demanded, defensively moving back to get distance. 

His hard expression was cold, and his cocky behavior depleted leaving behind anger. 

"Isn't it obvious? I want what she stole from me!" He growled, baring his canines wildly. 

His eyes darted down to my glowing emblem on my chest. Flashes of anger bored into my skin from his deadly glare. If looks could kill, I'd be six feet under from that glare alone. 

In a swift motion he was within touching distance from me again. I could smell an acrid stench secreting from his skin. Anger, jealously, malice. This man I'd never truly met, hated me to his deepest core. He would kill me if he could. 

I swept my leg out fast, knocking him down, but his reflexes were so fast that I only managed to drop him to one knee for a moment. 

It gave me enough time to recover. I jumped to my feet and started to run for the trees. I thought about staying and fighting, but something told me he was a lot stronger than I could perceive and he already seemed pretty strong. 

I didn't even know how to use my powers yet, so I couldn't rely on them to save me here. 

But it was just a dream, right? 

He couldn't actually hurt me in here, right?

A thick, meaty hand grabbed around my shoulder, yanking my back towards him. I let out a scream, but that seemed to only fuel his energy for conflict. 

He spun me around to face him. I threw my arms up like bars to keep whatever space I could between him and I. He darted his head forward, trying to bite me like a wild animal. His teeth were snapping, and bits of froth and saliva were spraying out onto me with the violent motions of his head. He was trying to rip my face off!

Where the palms of my hands touched his skin, they began to glow a bright, luminous blue. The sound of sizzling caught my attention, making me look to his shoulders where I was holding him back with every bit of strength I had. 

He howled in pain as his features were becoming more wolf and less human with every passing second. 

"Back. Off!" I stumbled between words, channeling every bit of strength into the palms of my hands where an uncomfortable heat was growing. 

He whipped his arm around mine, grazing my chest with his long claws. 

The night sky filled with light, and something felt like an explosion of energy between us that sent his body flying away from me. 

***********

I woke up gasping for air. The feeling of panic was chocking me. My eyes were wide and horrified as I realized I was back in bed. 

The room looked like a windstorm had ripped its way through here. If there were things on the shelves, they weren't anymore. 

Luka was across the room, looking equally as frightened as I felt. 

"I think your nightmares are real." He said, trying to convince me. 

I shook my head mortified. 

"They can't be. They're just bad dreams!" I wailed in denial. 

I knew he was right, but I wanted so badly for it not to be real. 

"Aura, you had gashes on your chest. They appeared out of nowhere while you were sleeping!" He told me nervously. 

I glanced down, searching for the bloody gory mess, but it was gone, yet I could feel where it was. I lightly traced my fingers over the area stunned. 

Luka comforted me and I was glad for that. He cautiously wrapped me into a bear hug as I shook and silently cried. 

"Luka-" I started shakily. 

"Luka, he told me he knew where I was. He could feel where I was." I said, feeling every bit of safety I clung to disappear. 

He will always be too close now. 

Luka growled menacingly. The sheer emotions were enough to startle me. 

"Let him fucking try to come for you." He growled into my hair, squeezing me harder than before.