Deadly Nightmares (The Last Guardian, Book One)

THREE

TAMARA WAS SMILING AS she walked out of Francesca's office, elated about her new job. She was just walking past the reception when she heard someone call out to her.

When she turned, she was surprised to find Fabiola walking in. Behind her, the whole group was present.

Tamara found herself looking for Pierce, but she shook her head and smiled, leaning into Fabiola's hug.

"Hey, Fab. How've you been?" she asked. Fabiola grinned back, her eyes crinkling. "Really good. I moved in with Grace like, a week ago and it has been so good."

Tamara nodded with a smile as Grace beamed at them both. Lucian came up behind, pushing his glasses up his nose with a finger.

"Hey, Tammy. Didn't think you'd be here first," he said, his golden hair all mussed up but adorable.

"Do you know where Pierce is?" Hans came up with his phone in his hand, Selena walking up with him. Tamara's smile slipped a bit as she shook her head. "Why does everyone just assume I know where he is?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

"Because you always seem to know where he is. And he always knows where you are," Davison said from behind and gave Tamara a side hug when he reached her.

"Yeah, well," she said, hugging him back. "I stopped keeping track five years ago."

Davison's brow furrowed as he looked at the others, keeping his arm around her shoulder. They all looked back, equally confused, but they didn't push for information.

"We gonna get some beer or what?" Another deep voice said, making Tamara's shoulders stiffen.

Jeremiah. Her elder brother. They were just siblings by blood. Didn't share a bond.

At least not like the Ferons did.

Tamara jolted a tiny bit at that thought. Where did it come from? The image of the Roberta, Dane and Hunter lying on their living room, noticing something she hadn't.

Their faces didn't look like they'd just killed each other.

There had been desperation in their eyes before they'd died. She can see it now. They were murdered by someone else. Not by each other.

This was gonna be more complicated than it had seemed to be some time ago.

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"So, what are y'all thinking of doing after Mortality?" Davison asked after taking a swig of his beer.

They'd walked on to the nearby bar and settled down after ordering beers for the table.

"I'm probably gonna go to a resort with Sel and fool around," Hans said, looking at his girlfriend with love.

Everyone laid out their plans and they all listened. Or at least Tamara pretended to listen. She zoned out after everyone started talking. She knew what they were gonna say.

"What about you, Jer?" Grace suddenly asked, getting Tamara out of her trance. She turned to the side. He'd chosen to sit beside her. Maybe they were making progress.

She looked on as Jeremiah shrugged and said, "I don't know. A vacation maybe, and then back to work."

Everyone nodded in understanding. Of all of the Guardians, Jeremiah was the one who stopped getting the dreams first. He just notified everyone one and a year later, he had a successful apple cider business, which has been booming on since.

That had been three years ago. One by one, the others had started noticing that they didn't have to expect bloody mass murders in their dreams.

Well, except one.