The dreams came with more frequency now; her subconscious making up for lost time? She hadn?t experienced dreams for decades and now she couldn?t close her eyes without the flood of images. It had make her leery of sleeping, pushing herself until she fell down into bed unable to drag herself another step, sometimes she did not even make it to her bed.
They all started the same way, with her standing at the edge of the whirlpool that lived inside her mind. It had become a static fixture there, the repository for all that she used to be, perhaps it would suck up the person she was now leaving her future self in a constant state of forgetting her past. There had been many nights that she sat and contemplated the depths, standing at the edge of the event, testing some resolve. There were warning signs that dug painfully into her subconscious that those memories were best left to the darkness of the tidepool, best left to that other person she used to be but was not now.
Another new thing were the wings. Huge and dark grey things that spread up from her back, from where -- when she was awake -- the twin scars lived, and flared outward. They were soft, and lovely but why they kept showing up in her dreams? It was that man, Vegas, he had put that thought in her head and as she had no memory of what really happened her brain must have adopted the lie.
The tips of the feathers were sheathed in some type of metal, much like the feathers on Vegas?s wings. They were deadly sharp but she seemed to be able to maneuver them without slicing herself or her surroundings up into little pieces. She hadn?t tested them for flight, despite being tempted, that would make them too real, to desirable and she couldn?t afford the luxury of feeding that delusion.
The dream shifted, it did this every night, every time she shut her eyes. She was at the whirlpool and then she wasn?t. Tonight was somewhere new, unfamiliar and yet tugging at some memory that made it feel like deja?vu. She hated everything about these dreams: hated the wings, hated these teasing memories, hated what always came next.
?Come back to us, J?ette. You will be forgiven.? The voices sang in sweet harmonies, soothing and seductive.
The dreams had been taking her to places that all felt like a variation on a theme. Some small-ish town with strange creatures that fell back in terror at her passing. No matter the alien eyes that focused on her they all filled with that same soul-sucking horror that made her feel as black-hearted a monster as had ever walked the worlds.
?I am not that person.? She would try to explain, knowing it was a dream and knowing it would do no good. ?I am not whomever it is you fear.? They never listened, never stayed long enough for her to get through to any of them.
Tonight was different, the place she found herself filled the landscape with tall, elegant spires that reached up to a golden sky, piercing the star-starved space above. She was on a platform on one of the smaller spires but glancing downward proved that the ground was nowhere to be seen below her, a fog reached up from the depths to obscure the view but that was a good mile down. It wasn?t that she feared heights, she didn?t, but the emptiness surrounding her perch gave her pause. She backed away from the edge and into the main body of the spire, turning as she did so she didn?t walk into anything, or anyone.
Reaching out to touch the walls she jerked back when the sensation of sentience permeated her senses. The walls were warm, the slick marble appearance just a facade to lull the unsuspecting into thinking it made of stone. No, there was thought behind that touch, a mind so vast and old that it did not care that creatures made their home in its flesh.
?Come back to us, J?ette. You have not been forgotten.? The floor seemed to give with each step she took, cushioning her actions so that she walked silently. Silence followed the chorus, thick and oppressive in this foreign place.
A shadow crossed her peripheral vision and she turned on a heel, the wings -- her wings -- spread and then arced around her body protectively like armor. She was painfully aware that she had no weapons, none but the blades on those wings. There was no conscious thought associated with the appendages however and therefore she could not count on them to do what she wanted. The fact they seemed to act on their own caused a thread of fear to push through her thoughts, demanding attention.
?Who is there? Why are you doing this? I am a bounty hunter, if I?ve done something to offend you then come out and say it. We can settle it like adults.? She demanded in the direction she thought she saw the shadow flee.
For a moment she saw the creature come into view, the scream that started in the dream continued even after she jerked herself free from sleep. Her silk pajamas were clinging to her body and her hair was damp with sweat, her jaw snapped shut so violently that she thought she might have chipped a tooth. Thankfully it was a night she was on her own, she didn?t want to have to explain to anyone, not even herself. Rolling out of bed she headed to the shower, it would be awhile before she allowed her eyes to close again... as long as she could manage.
She had a date to go flying with Sergei tonight, perhaps she could use him to keep the dreams at bay. Thinking about him chased away some of the images, a smile formed as she washed away the nightmares with the warm water. He was different from the other men she chased, she was looking forward to spending time with him, hopefully he was ready for her. So very few people were ever really ready for Jet, ah well, it would be an adventure at the least.
They all started the same way, with her standing at the edge of the whirlpool that lived inside her mind. It had become a static fixture there, the repository for all that she used to be, perhaps it would suck up the person she was now leaving her future self in a constant state of forgetting her past. There had been many nights that she sat and contemplated the depths, standing at the edge of the event, testing some resolve. There were warning signs that dug painfully into her subconscious that those memories were best left to the darkness of the tidepool, best left to that other person she used to be but was not now.
Another new thing were the wings. Huge and dark grey things that spread up from her back, from where -- when she was awake -- the twin scars lived, and flared outward. They were soft, and lovely but why they kept showing up in her dreams? It was that man, Vegas, he had put that thought in her head and as she had no memory of what really happened her brain must have adopted the lie.
The tips of the feathers were sheathed in some type of metal, much like the feathers on Vegas?s wings. They were deadly sharp but she seemed to be able to maneuver them without slicing herself or her surroundings up into little pieces. She hadn?t tested them for flight, despite being tempted, that would make them too real, to desirable and she couldn?t afford the luxury of feeding that delusion.
The dream shifted, it did this every night, every time she shut her eyes. She was at the whirlpool and then she wasn?t. Tonight was somewhere new, unfamiliar and yet tugging at some memory that made it feel like deja?vu. She hated everything about these dreams: hated the wings, hated these teasing memories, hated what always came next.
?Come back to us, J?ette. You will be forgiven.? The voices sang in sweet harmonies, soothing and seductive.
The dreams had been taking her to places that all felt like a variation on a theme. Some small-ish town with strange creatures that fell back in terror at her passing. No matter the alien eyes that focused on her they all filled with that same soul-sucking horror that made her feel as black-hearted a monster as had ever walked the worlds.
?I am not that person.? She would try to explain, knowing it was a dream and knowing it would do no good. ?I am not whomever it is you fear.? They never listened, never stayed long enough for her to get through to any of them.
Tonight was different, the place she found herself filled the landscape with tall, elegant spires that reached up to a golden sky, piercing the star-starved space above. She was on a platform on one of the smaller spires but glancing downward proved that the ground was nowhere to be seen below her, a fog reached up from the depths to obscure the view but that was a good mile down. It wasn?t that she feared heights, she didn?t, but the emptiness surrounding her perch gave her pause. She backed away from the edge and into the main body of the spire, turning as she did so she didn?t walk into anything, or anyone.
Reaching out to touch the walls she jerked back when the sensation of sentience permeated her senses. The walls were warm, the slick marble appearance just a facade to lull the unsuspecting into thinking it made of stone. No, there was thought behind that touch, a mind so vast and old that it did not care that creatures made their home in its flesh.
?Come back to us, J?ette. You have not been forgotten.? The floor seemed to give with each step she took, cushioning her actions so that she walked silently. Silence followed the chorus, thick and oppressive in this foreign place.
A shadow crossed her peripheral vision and she turned on a heel, the wings -- her wings -- spread and then arced around her body protectively like armor. She was painfully aware that she had no weapons, none but the blades on those wings. There was no conscious thought associated with the appendages however and therefore she could not count on them to do what she wanted. The fact they seemed to act on their own caused a thread of fear to push through her thoughts, demanding attention.
?Who is there? Why are you doing this? I am a bounty hunter, if I?ve done something to offend you then come out and say it. We can settle it like adults.? She demanded in the direction she thought she saw the shadow flee.
For a moment she saw the creature come into view, the scream that started in the dream continued even after she jerked herself free from sleep. Her silk pajamas were clinging to her body and her hair was damp with sweat, her jaw snapped shut so violently that she thought she might have chipped a tooth. Thankfully it was a night she was on her own, she didn?t want to have to explain to anyone, not even herself. Rolling out of bed she headed to the shower, it would be awhile before she allowed her eyes to close again... as long as she could manage.
She had a date to go flying with Sergei tonight, perhaps she could use him to keep the dreams at bay. Thinking about him chased away some of the images, a smile formed as she washed away the nightmares with the warm water. He was different from the other men she chased, she was looking forward to spending time with him, hopefully he was ready for her. So very few people were ever really ready for Jet, ah well, it would be an adventure at the least.