Sleeping Beauties by Tamela Miles Page B

he was being stared at, he lifted his head and smiled, locking eyes with Chloe. She felt the immediate connection down to her toes. He stared back at her for a long moment before returning to plucking his guitar strings.
    “That would make for some outstanding dream sex,” Nicola said with a laugh.
    “I wonder how much of that is the alcohol talking,” a deep voice commented from down the bar. He was tall and muscular, with short black hair and a mischievous smile. He wore his blue jeans and black shirt very well and he knew it.
    The three women looked at each other in surprise. Interaction with background people rarely happened in their dream realm and so they had learned to simply ignore the imaginary population. This was no man to ignore and Nicola was the first to respond to his obvious flirting.
    “Oh, I don’t need any alcohol to say what I’m thinking.”
    He left the bar stool and slowly moved down to their end of the bar. “Hello, ladies. I’m Alexander and here’s what I’m thinking – I’m thinking that you bitches are going to return my property or I will fuck you up.” His voice was like warm honey and hypnotic.
    Chloe’s mouth formed a perfect “o” and she looked at Laurie quickly who shot her back a look of equal shock. Nicola wore a quizzical expression. “Excuse me?” she said.
    “You think that you’re in my part of the dream realm by accident?” Alexander shook his head slowly, his face never changing the pleasant expression. “You three are impressive but you’re nowhere near my strength in this dream realm. I brought you here to retrieve something that belongs to me which has been missing for some years. Return my Book of Secrets. Now.” The last word was clipped out harshly.
    “Who the hell are you?” Nicola snapped angrily. Laurie and Chloe exchanged a dark look.
    “I told you – Alexander. This is my dream realm and I control everything that goes on here. I mastered the power of dreaming years before any of you were even born.” His tone was almost conversational, belying the determined glint in his dark eyes. “I’m a lot older than I look.” He suddenly grabbed Nicola’s arm and got right in her face. “The Book of Secrets is not for little girls to play with.”  Just as quickly, he released her, stepping back to look at the three of them. She rubbed her arm, glaring at him.
    “We lost that book ages ago,” Laurie said snappishly, waving a dismissive hand. She didn’t know how this guy had become a part of their dream fabric but she wasn’t about to be intimidated. Part of her wasn’t even sure of he was real.
    “Find it,” Alexander said softly, danger evident in his tone.
    “We don’t even know where to begin looking,” Chloe exclaimed. “That was something we lost over twenty years ago.”
    “Then, things don’t look promising for you three.” Alexander turned his gaze to young woman with dark hair standing not far from him down the bar. “Let me demonstrate.” He moved to take the  young woman in his arms, smiling down at her. She returned his smile and he leaned down to kiss her. He grabbed her head in both hands and a stream of bright light exploded from her.
    She began to struggle as his being absorbed her light. She turned to dust in his arms. It was over in a few moments and  not one person in the club looked as if anything extraordinary had just happened. Chloe clutched Laurie’s arm in fear and Nicola inched back closer to them.
    Alexander turned his eyes on them as he brushed the powder substance from his clothing. He glanced at his watch. “You had better get moving. I’m giving you until sunrise to get my book.” He gestured at the pile of human dust near his feet before moving away from them and disappearing into the crowd of club patrons.   
    “Scary but cute.” Nicola spoke in a soft, dazed voice, looking for some sign of him in the cluster of people. She knew it was a mistake to be attracted to someone so brutal,