I'm sure most people wake up after a full night's rest and feel refreshed. They don't feel just as tired as they did when they went to bed. The morning light doesn't feel like an egregious assault on their eyes and the ring of an alarm doesn't make them homicidal.

I will never be one of those people.

But today is about as good as it gets for me; I feel slightly rested and I even opened my eyes before my alarm went off.

I stretch and sit up in my bed. Pumpkin is lying peacefully in his bed like a giant, fuzzy, red potato. His slow breaths turn into light snorts as he inhales.

After a shower and the rest of my usual routine, I check some emails on my laptop on the couch. Pumpkin cuddles up beside me.

My phone buzzes and I see a new message appear.

Kieran: Your roommate is Zara, right?

I squint at it for a moment. What a weird question to ask out of the blue.

Me: Zahra - yeah. Y?

It buzzes in my palm and I realize he's calling me. I roll my eyes and fight a smile as I answer.

"Are you one of those people who calls back in response to a text?" I ask.

"How'd you guess?" he asks on the other end of the phone. I can hear the smile behind his voice.

"You seem like the type who likes to piss everyone off."

"Got me there, Red." He laughs.

"Why are you asking about Zahra, anyway?"

"Yeah um... that's actually why I'm calling. I got some mildly concerning intel from my dude TJ. Sounds like Victor is looking for someone named Zahra..." My heartbeat starts to drum against my ribcage and my chest feels tighter.  I don't want to let Vic affect me this way, but there's no other way I can react to the news that there's a demon out there looking for my roommate—looking for me.

"For Zahra?"

"I figure there's no way it's a coincidence, but it sounds like he's still looking in the Bay Area, so there's no reason to panic."

"Yeah, I accidentally mentioned her in a dream. Before I met you."

"Okay, cool. I just wanted to let you know the latest. Keep me updated if you hear anything from him or see anything suspicious, alright? And you probably want to let your roomie know that he's asking around about her."

"Good idea."

"Red?" he asks with something in his tone that I can't quite decipher. "Are you okay? You know you don't need to worry about this fucker, right?"

"Yeah. No. I know."

"Alright, I'll see you later Doll."

"Bye." I end the call and sigh.

Well, I've been awake for roughly one hour.

I need a nap.

*****

I open my eyes to a city rooftop at night. There's a chill in the air and not a soul around. I step toward the edge and lean my elbows on the concrete barrier, looking out at the city.

"Whatcha doin', Red?" a familiar voice asks from behind me.

In my peripheral vision, I see Kieran stand beside me and rest his elbows on the concrete too.

"Just looking at the city," I say. "It's a nice night."

"Where are we? What rooftop is this?"

"It's..." I pause, looking around. I can't actually remember what this building is... or how we got here. "I don't actually know."

"That might be because it's a dream."

"It is?" I look around, searching for some kind of clue that we're not in the real world. "I swear I can't tell anymore."

"Why are you dreaming about a generic Port Charlotte rooftop at night? Are you Batman? Did I make out with the dark knight?"

I huff and give him an eye roll.

"I don't know why I dream what I dream." I turn around so that my back is now resting against the wall and I'm facing the rest of the rooftop. "Do you know the reason behind all your dreams?"

"Well, most of my dreams have a pretty obvious reason." He waggles his eyebrows and smirks.

"Of course," I say with a laugh. "I bet Freud would have a field day with you."

"For sure. Horny old German dudes love me."

I chuckle.

"I don't even want to know how you know that."

"Everybody loves me." He smiles but gives me a concerned once-over. "You alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a little stressed and a little out of it. Having this one life in the real world where my ex is after me and he's a demon, and then this dream world spending time with you... it's almost backwards. Like this is where I find my normalcy and my reality is the crazy fantastical world full of danger and chaos."

He smirks slightly and steps in front of me, then perches his arms on either side of me so that his arms have caged me in against the wall.

"Well I don't have a lot of control over the real world..." He presses his body up against me and his forehead rests on mine as he licks his lips. "But we can certainly make this a fantasy too."

His lips meet mine and our bodies move in harmony, both of us pushing into one another like we're trying to occupy the same space at once.

I break our kiss and he immediately burrows his face into my neck, kissing and nibbling as he makes his way down and across my collarbone. My head falls back and he draws his tongue up the front of my throat.

He pulls back and smiles at me before scooping me up by my thighs. My legs instinctively wrap around his waist as he carries me over to a nearby picnic table. He sets me down on top of it and rests his hands on my hips, gliding his thumbs over my hip bones as he looks me up and down like he's deciding which part to devour first.

"Tell me what you want, Red. Let me be your fantasy."

My mind is spinning. Is this a bad idea? Should I tell him to stop? What does it mean if we do this? Does it count if it's really just a dream?

He leans in for a kiss and bites my lower lip hard enough to draw blood. I moan in a way that lets on just how much I enjoy it and he chuckles slightly as he releases my lip from his teeth.

"I think I know what you want," he says, taking a step back and leaving me sitting on the table.

He stretches his arms and back for a moment before his large ram-like horns emerge on the sides of his head. Two large bat wings spring forth from his back and stretch across the backdrop of the night sky. My mouth falls open as I take in his form.

"Is this what you like? You don't want a bad boy, do you?" He steps forward and slips back between my legs. "Bad isn't enough for you—you want wicked."

My brain has practically short-circuited now, with just a single word running on a loop: Yes. Yes. Yes.

Before I can attempt to respond, he bunches my skirt up and loops his fingers beneath the waistband of my underwear, pulling them off and throwing them back over his shoulder with a smirk.

Oh wow, okay. So we're really doing this.

I suck in a sharp breath.

He grabs my knees and spreads my legs, then drops to his knees.

"Wha- I-" I stammer.

In a swift motion, he buries his face between my legs and an entirely uncensored stream of curses and moans flows from my mouth.

I feel his rough horns rub against my thighs and I fall back onto the table, no longer able to support my own weight.

"Oh fuck!" I scream, lifting my hips into him. "Kieran!"

He hums against my core.

I hear an odd thump sound to my side and I turn to find it, but when I do I see something I don't expect—Kieran.

He's standing there in a green silk shirt and tight black pants, his jaw slack and his eyes wide.

I yelp in shock and back away in a panic. I look at the man between my legs and see that Kieran is still there and smiling.

What is happening?

I scream and squirm away, hopping off the table and readjusting my skirt. I look back and forth between the two Kierans, hoping one of them has an explanation. The original Kieran seems surprisingly unfazed, but the new one in the green shirt breaks into a whole-body laugh.

"Shit, Red," he says through a laugh, his eyes still wide. "When I heard you call my name, this is not what I expected."

I freeze as I realize what his response implies. I called his name... meaning that he's the real Kieran? Then who is...?

"Oh no. No no no..." I mumble.

I look back at the other one, who doesn't seem to be saying much, and I realize exactly what's happening—that's not Kieran, he's just part of the dream.

Which means... oh god, this is awkward.

"So, this is new to me," the real Kieran says, a smirk growing on his face. "I've never interrupted a sex dream about myself before. Should I leave and let you finish, or should I join in?"

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