Dogs And Devils

Chapter Fourteen: Subconscious

“You look like crap.” Rain's voice floated to me. My eyes darted back and forth, searching for him but all was dark.

“Thanks.” I replied dryly. “Where are you?” I asked. And where was I? I couldn't see or feel myself. Who was I anyway? What was myself? How could he see me?

“I'm with you, you're with me. You're falling asleep right now, as am I. I love the sound of my family breathing in the next room. Don't you? It's soothing, always the same.”

I tried to clear my head and form a coherent response.

“I um, I don't know. I can't hear my family breathe from far away.” Was I talking through my mouth? Where was my voice coming from?

“Oh, that's right. Sometimes I forget that others aren't like me.”

“Huh?”

“You've fallen for him, Ashtyn. Even after I warned you. Silly child.” he said, the words hanging in the...air?

“You keep saying that, but I think that before we dive into my personal life and feelings you should tell me where we are.” I snapped.

“Didn't I just tell you? To put it simply, we're in our subconsciouses, or our psychic mind. It's that place in your head where you hear voices and see weird images just before you fall asleep fully. You know what I'm talking about, it's the sanctuary just behind your eyes.”

Speechless. All I could say was, “Oh.”

“Yes. It's nice to get away from all the persona we have to build up in the real world, I think. I'm usually free in my sleep, but lately I've been linked to you. It's the stone, I imagine. Since it has supernatural properties and is charged with a bit of my energy, I suppose it mixed with your energy and this is what we got.”

“This has never happened to you before?” I asked.

“With you? No, never. But in my life, yes. Only once though.”

He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “Ah, openness. I'm really not that bad of a guy, Ashtyn. I wish you could see that.” he said.

“I wish you could see that about Gabriel and me. We aren't bad people either.”

“Gabriel is an unnatural being and I pray you'll stop interfering with the both of us. This is the third time you've stopped me from doing what I'm supposed to do. Ashtyn, if I keep messing up, Alina, Windy, Paul, Patrick, and Missy are going to do the job for me. And they like to do things slowly.” He went back to his usual business tone.

“Who are all of them?” I asked.

“My family. Kind of a pack. Paul and Windy are my aunt and uncle. Missy is their daughter and Patrick and Alina are members of a section of the family that got separated from us a few hundred years ago. Technically, they aren't related to us, but we treat them as if they are.”

“Wow.” I said. “That's crazy. Can I meet them?”

“What?! No! You can't meet them, are you completely mad?” he replied, like it was a ludicrous idea.

“I just want to see the people behind the Rain that I know. Is that so bad?”

“Sure it's not. If you like getting tossed around like a salad and served for lunch. They're not like me. They look human but they live in a strictly animal world. I'm lucky we even live indoors.”

“Why are you here?” I jumped to a different subject and caught him off guard.

“I-uh, here in your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Because....I wanted to talk to you. You know, without all our fake faces.” at the last word his face appeared in front of me, golden and sweet like I'd never seen before. Woah. Keep it together, Ashtyn. You see cute boys all the time, you live next to one!

“My face isn't fake. What you see is what you get, I dunno why you think you have to pretend. It's just silly.” I answered.

“Well I can tell that now, can't I? If you show everyone your real person, you get walked all over. That's why we wear masks after all, it's just protection from vandalism.”

“Sometimes vandalism gives property character.”

“You mean like how you gave that deck character tonight?” Touché.

“All right, all right. So here we are. What's so important about dream Rain that he has to bother me while I'm asleep?” I asked.

“You aren't asleep, you're almost asleep. There's a difference. You don't have the power to control your dreams yet, I do. But here, you control everything because you're still partially awake and have a handle on your mind. Go ahead, try it.”

“How?”

“Think of where you want to be. Give us a place.” He said, gently. I sighed and the first place I could think of materialized in front of me, along with a body for my voice and an unhappy looking Rain. It was a night time scene, one I'd seen before.

Gabriel was laughing with me on the grass under the street lamp. He appeared real and staring at me but he was fake, just a projection. His phony eyes saw through me and into space, they were so unreal, like those of a robot or hologram. I gulped as I realized why Rain would be upset to see this, Gabriel was taking off his necklace again.

“You would really let him do that?” He snapped, changing back into day time Rain.

“What are you talking about? It's just a dream, Rain.” I said. His form strolled over to us and knelt beside me.

“This is why I said, don't fall in love with him. His faulty protection skills are going to get you killed, Ashtyn. Why don't you trust me?” Our eyes were more real than Gabriel's, and his bore into mine, searching them for and answer that wouldn't hurt as much as what the reality of it was.

“Gabriel hasn't tried to kill me.” I said.

And with that, I was plunged back into darkness.