I don't know how long I've been asleep, but when I wake up, the TV is off. and when I stretch my arm across the mattress, Elias's side of the bed is cold. Rubbing my eyes, I turn my head to the other side and nearly jump out of my skin when I notice a shadow standing over me.

"Fuck!" I yelp, pulling the covers up to my chest, about to launch into a panic until I realize it's Elias. "For fuck's sake, you scared me! What are you—"

I freeze when he runs his fingertips down the side of my face, over my jaw, and down the column of my neck, moving my hair aside so it's out of the way.

"You're so beautiful, Cordelia," he whispers, leaning over me, caging me in with one arm across my body. "I got up for a glass of water, but when I came back, the moonlight was hitting your face just right, and I couldn't stop myself from watching you. I'm sorry if I scared you."

My heart rate evens out, and I place my fingers over his, guiding them down over my collarbone, down my sternum, and underneath my tank top. They brush against my nipples, hard from both the fear of being startled and his confession. "Don't be sorry. You know how I feel about fear, Elias."

"Do I? I should check to see if my assumption is true." He continues down my body until his hand cups my pussy. With nimble fingers, he touches me through the satin of my shorts. "Always so wet and ready to be devoured by my monster."

"Yes," I whisper, arching into his touch.

His other hand guides my face to the side, exposing the length of my neck. I feel so vulnerable like this, him controlling my body. No part of me wants to fight him. I want to be submissive, to willingly lay upon his altar. Let the vampire take what he wants from me.

"My dolce tentazione," he whispers, his breath warm against my neck. "Mine to take." He lifts my chin until our eyes meet. His sharp teeth glint against the shadows of his room. "Mine to fuck." His fingers glide under my shorts and three thrust into my wet center. "Mine to devour." A piercing pain radiates from my neck. The hurt is short-lived, quickly replaced by a euphoric high I've never felt before.

"Elias!" My hands go directly into his hair, gripping it at the roots as he does exactly as he said he was going to do—he devours me. He sucks at my neck, taking in drink after drink of my blood, and to call it orgasmic is the biggest understatement of the century.

He doesn't even have to move his fingers against my clit, and I am on the precipice of coming. "Fuck, fuck, Elias, I'm—"

I shoot up straight out of bed, out of breath, chest heaving and soaked in sweat, a scream on the tip of my tongue. And when I look to my right, Elias is in the exact same position as I am, and his fangs are out, as though he was in the middle of...biting something.

Or someone. Except it is clear he was asleep. Right next to me.

What the fuck is going on?

"Umm, Elias? I—did you just have a—a dream about me?"

He turns to me with wide eyes as dark as the night sky. Several seconds pass as he looks me over and his teeth retract into his gums. "I did. It was so real. I could taste..." He blows out a puff of air and combs his fingers through his hair.

My heart pounds against my ribcage. "You could taste what?"

If he says my blood...

"I...It was just a dream, Cordelia."

"Tell me. I need to know."

"Your blood. I swear I could taste your blood."

"Zeus strike me down," I say in awe.

"Why? What were you dreaming about?" he asks, his cool demeanor slipping.

I turn to face him and pull my legs underneath me, clasping my hands in my lap. "You. Tasting my blood. Right here in this bed."

He tilts his head to the side, and I've never felt so scrutinized in my entire life. With the caution of approaching a feral beast, he asks, "What are you, Cordelia?"

I shake my head, confusion clouding my already sleepy brain. "What? What are you talking about?"

"What. Are. You?" he asks again, turning and mirroring my position, looking deep into my eyes as though he is going to find the answers he's looking for within.

"I don't know what you mean," I say, swallowing and biting my lip so hard I nearly draw blood. "I'm a human. What—what else would I be?"

Ignoring my question, he asks another of his own. "Has something like this ever happened to you before? Where you have the exact same dream as someone else?"

His intensity and raw concern give me pause, and I take his question seriously. I think back over my life, and the times when I've shared my dreams with others. "Ya know, actually now that I think of it, yes. My dreams have always been very vivid. I remember them every night, and that was always strange according to my friends. And when they would talk about the dreams they did remember, sometimes I'd realize...I'd had the same dream. It freaked them out when I would tell them, so I eventually stopped. And I pushed the notion out of my head. And now that you mention it...I remember it like it was yesterday." Something cold prickles over my skin, and I feel uneasy. "Elias, what's going on?"

He forges on, bypassing my concern. "And did anything in those dreams ever come to fruition? Like if you punched someone, did they have a bruise the next morning?"

I crinkle my nose and shake my head. "I don't tend to have violent dreams. But this one time, I dreamed that I painted my friend Maddy's nails bright pink. She loved goth style, so it was out of the norm for her. But sure enough, she showed up to school the next day with pink nails. It was a wild coincidence."

"It wasn't a coincidence." He runs his hand down his face and when he looks at me again, his severe expression sends a chill down my spine. "You're a Dreamwalker, Cordelia."

My blood turns to ice in my veins as I soak in his words. "I'm sorry. A what?"

"A Dreamwalker. You control your dreams, and the dreams of others. You can travel between the states of consciousness, thus sharing what's in your brain with someone else. And you can make things happen. Whatever you wish can come to pass," he says, and I can barely hear him for the buzzing in my ears.

"But...I'm just a human. I've never—I didn't even know there was truly such a thing as a supernatural creature until I got to this island, and now you're telling me I am one?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm telling you. Well, you're probably half-Dreamwalker, half-human." He pauses for a moment and then says, "The other night...when you didn't sleep well, and you told me about it at breakfast. You dreamt of me, did you not?"

I chew the inside of my cheek and thread my fingers together, not meeting his gaze. "I mean, yeah, but, you could've known that just by the way I was act—"

"I know that, sanjarica, because I dreamt of you too. I told you I needed to know what you tasted like, but before I could take a bite, I woke up. Hard as a fucking rock. I was going to just go back to sleep, but I heard—"

I bury my face in my hands. "You heard me with my vibrator," I groan, peeking out at him through my fingers.

For the first time since we sprang awake his mouth tilts in a hint of a smile. "I did, and I didn't fall back to sleep right away. It was impossible until I dealt with my hard-on. So know this: you were not alone in your late-night activities."

My mouth goes dry and my shorts dampen all over again at the thought of him pleasuring himself to the sound of me. "Did you happen to hear me...say your name?" I ask, aware we're getting off topic, but I just want to hear him say it.

"I did," he says through gritted teeth.

"You did. And how'd that make you feel?"

His chuckle vibrates through the room, a warm joyous sound. "Your whole world is being flipped upside down, and you're worried if I was turned on by hearing you say my name? Obviously, I liked it, just as I did the dream you dragged me into."

I shrug and scoot closer to him. "With everything that's happened the last couple of days, when I really think about it, this isn't even that shocking."

He raises an eyebrow. "Come now, Cordelia. You are seriously telling me you had no idea."

"None. My mother never—" I stop and tilt my head to the side. "Wait. My dad...my dad and I have the exact same hair and eye color. My hair has always been this silver shade. Could that have something to do with it? Do you think my dad could be a Dreamwalker too?"

He nods. "Living in the human realm would have put a damper on his abilities. It's the reason that most supernatural beings don't choose to live there. Our bodies slowly adjust to the limitations found in humans. That in itself might be why your father chose to go to that realm. Dreamwalkers are a rare breed, and their power is both envied and feared. And because of that, there was a time in our history when they were hunted and killed."

I inhale a sharp breath and raise my eyebrows. "Killed?" I ask in a small voice. "Why? Why would someone want to kill me just because I can go into their dreams?"

He reaches over and unclenches my fists, rubbing his fingertips over where my nails have dug little crescent moons into my palms. I hadn't even realized I'd been doing it. "Think about it. If you could influence your friend to paint her nails bright pink...what else could you do?"

I focus on his fingertips against my skin. He doesn't feel as cold as he usually does when he touches me. Almost as if...

"Wait. What are—are you saying that I can actually experience things in my dreams and...make people do them in real life? Not just influence but...actually do?" My heart is racing and my mind is reeling with the impossibility of it.

"Right now I think the things you make happen are accidental. That's why you could be in danger. You have to learn how to stop those things from happening."

I nod but look down at his hands. "You're warm right now. Usually, your skin is a bit cold when you touch me, but..." I look down at our hands and I intertwine our fingers. "Right now, it's warm...like you..." I touch my neck where he bit me in my dream but of course, there's nothing but smooth skin there. "It's almost like you actually fed from me."

"My body's craving is sedated for now, but it will most likely not last as long as truly feeding."

I thought I was the daughter of a boring accountant and an eccentric ghost hunter. It turns out I am the child of a Dreamwalker—and they didn't think that was important information to share. They hid who I truly am from me.

My stomach flips, churning my dinner. I jump from the bed and sprint down the hall to the bathroom. Falling to my knees, I grip the toilet and vomit.

After a moment, I sense Elias behind me, gathering my hair at the nape of my neck and holding it away from my face. "Are you okay, belle rêveur?"

I cough and lay my head against my arm. "I don't want you to see me like this."

"I understand," he whispers, running his hand up and down my spine. "But I want to be here for you. I remember what it was like to learn I was no longer a human. You shouldn't go through that alone."

I nod against my arm and take a deep breath. "I think I'm okay to stand, but I need to brush my teeth."

Elias helps me to my feet and pulls a hair tie out of the makeup bag I left on the vanity. As I brush my teeth, I glance back at him in the mirror and my heart skips in my chest when I realize what he's doing.

I rinse my mouth and wipe it with the hand towel next to the sink. "Elias, are you braiding my hair?"

He glances away from his work and locks eyes with me. The saddest smile I've ever seen pulls at his lips. "I can't promise that it will be perfect. It has been a while since I've done this. When my mother and sister became sick with scarlet fever, I would braid their hair to keep it from their face."

Elias doesn't need to say more for me to guess it was one of the final kindnesses he did for them. Which makes me wonder, just how long has he been alive? It is a question I store away for another time when I'm ready to process something beyond my own personal revelations.

We exit the bathroom, and he pulls back the rumpled sheets for me. I feel like a child as he tucks me in, but I don't stop him. It's nice to be cared for when so much is piling up against me.

He places a kiss to my clammy forehead and says, "Rest, Cordelia. All your questions and concerns will be here for you to deal with tomorrow. It's best that you have you have the mental strength to face them."

I nod and blink up at him sleepily. "Okay...will you hold me? Please? I—I feel like I might cry if you're not right here next to me. I'm sorry if that sounds needy."

"I can deal with needy."

He slides in beside me and pulls me into his arms. I fight falling asleep for as long as I can. The knowledge that what happens in my dreams is real now sits like a boulder on my chest. But even trepidation can't win in a battle with my exhaustion in the end, and I unwillingly give into the darkness.