Sinners & Starlight: Chapter Ten
An old friend from an even older realm pays Cade a surprise visit.
“It’s been a while, old friend.”
Cade rubbed the bridge of his nose. “This…you. What are you doing here?”
The world around him still seemed a bit blurry, but the man casually reclining against one of his imported cars came into focus a lot faster than the rest. His smirk most of all, poised beneath a pair of darkly tinted glasses which hid the amusement glimmering in his eyes. “You tell me,” he said with a half-hearted shrug.
“Get off my car.” Cade straightened, finally regaining his bearings.
Well, his footing, at least.
“It’s not your car.” The man snorted and shook his head. “I know it’s been a while since you called me, but damn. You’re getting soft, Caeden.”
“What are you—” His voice cut off the moment he pressed a hand to the cool metal of the car’s roof. He couldn’t feel it, not the way he would if this truly was the middle of the night in Streeterville. “Shit.”
The man shook his head again, the leather of his jacket creaking as he folded his arms. “No wonder you called. Do we need to revisit Dreamwalking 101?” He chimed in a rather patronizing sing-song voice, tilting his dark glasses down his nose.
Cade yanked his hand back. Then checked to make sure he was completely dressed before glaring at this unwelcome visitor. He was getting a lot of those today. “You keep saying I called you. I did no such thing.”
“Sure you did.” The man paused, then waved his fingers back and forth. “Eh, okay, maybe I got called on your behalf. My cousin noticed a few things and he told me to check on you whenever you decided to take your siesta.”
“Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
“You know, I remember you being a thousand times friendlier the last time we hung out.”
“I’m pretty sure that was right before the fire. So forgive me for developing an edge.”
A toothy grin spread across the man’s face, glinting in the moonless glow of the Dream Realm. “Ah, but you’ve always had an edge. This is different.” He pushed himself off the car to move closer to Cade. “This,” he said as he gave him a once-over, “is a whole shit ton of denial. Very interesting indeed.”
“Will you just get to the point? What do you even go by these days?”
“Aww, but still so considerate. Thank you, darling. ‘Epiales’ did stop rolling off the tongue somewhere around the seventeenth century, and you’ve always known me as—”
“Annoying.”
“Don’t be rude.” He rolled a shoulder, sending the thick curtain of black hair to his back. With a flick of his hand, a cigarette appeared between his fingers. It lit on the first drag, as it always did whenever he felt like flexing a little dream magic. When his smoke rings blown at Cade made the man stifle a cough, he chuckled. “There. Now we’re even. As I was saying, things have been rumbling through the realms and sending ripples our way. Now, seeing the state you’re in, I have to wonder.”
Cade didn’t want to entertain anything his old friend said. But he also knew better than to dismiss the riddled warnings of his kind. Especially when delivered personally like this. “Alright, fine.” He spread his arms out to the empty street, both in surrender and to check and make sure it actually was empty. “I’m all ears. What the hell are you talking about?”
The man—Epiales, since he forgot to update Cade on this century’s chosen moniker—took one more drag of the cigarette before flicking it to the ground and stomping out the ember. “Word on the street says you got yourself a lovely lady—”
Cade didn’t need to think about it. He just went for it, grabbing Epiales by the collar of his leather jacket and slamming him hard against the car. Even if Cade didn’t feel much of anything in this realm, he knew he did. “Stay the fuck away from her. Do you hear me?”
“And this,” Epiales wheezed with a laugh, his grin wider, “is exactly why my cousin sent me to check on you. Look at you! This is new! This is different.”
Cade immediately let go and took several steps back. “It’s nothing.”
“Bullshit. If that was nothing, then there’s a whole bunch of ‘nothing’ going on that you need to know about. Oh, yeah.” He straightened out his clothes and took his time adjusting the rings on his fingers before elaborating. Another mode of punishment to keep Cade in line.
Or at least keep him waiting.
Epiales cracked his neck. Then sighed. “You’ve got nothing to worry about from me. She’s telling you the truth—she is an absolute virgin in every way. Can’t do much with that, and I wouldn’t even if I could.” He leveled his own deadpan glare at Cade. “Because unlike some people, I remember how to treat my friends.”
New episode previews are published here on Substack every week, and Paid Subscribers receive each installment in full as it’s released on Saturdays at 8pm CST.
If you enjoy reading along while the story unfolds, you’re welcome to subscribe for access to full episodes, published ebooks (i.e. Song of the Sidhe),
and the NEW Author Resource Vault
for only $5/month!
