Oleander House: Bay City Paranormal Investigations, Book 1

look Andre in the eye. “The first night, I dreamed I was…you know, having sex. With someone I couldn’t see. The next night I dreamed I went to touch h—um, the person, and my hand was scaly and had these huge long claws.”
“Wow,” Andre said, eyes wide. “Nasty.”
Sam smiled grimly. “Wait, it gets better. The last two nights, I’ve dreamed that after the sex, I killed the person I was with. Just ripped ’em right open with those fucking awful claws while I was still inside.”
A visible shudder ran through Andre’s body. “Jesus, Sam.”
“Yeah.” Sam yawned again, so hard it made his jaw ache. “Christ, how the hell are we supposed to function like this?”
“Fuck if I know.” Andre drained his cup and shoved his chair back from the table. “I’m going for more caffeine, you need a refill?”
“Not just yet, thanks,” Sam mumbled. “I’ll get some in a minute.”
Andre nodded and slouched into the kitchen. Sam sat blinking at the bovines romping across his coffee mug and wondered how on earth he was going to survive another three days.
    Eventually the rest of the group showed up as well. Bo evidently hadn’t gone running that morning; he came into the kitchen just behind Amy, looking almost as tired as Sam felt. He blushed and turned away when Sam caught his eye. Sam hid his humorless smile behind his mug. Maybe I’m not the only one having sex dreams. The thought didn’t comfort him.
    “Damn,” David said, perusing the rather subdued bunch gathered around the table. “Didn’t anybody sleep? Y’all look about three-quarters dead.”
    “Thank you, Mister America,” Andre groused.
    David smirked into his scrambled eggs. “Not my fault that this house doesn’t get under my skin like it does yours, big guy.”
    Andre threw a piece of toast at him. David laughed.
“Hey, Cecile.” Sam leaned toward her. “Have you been having any weird dreams since you’ve been here?”
Cecile nodded. “Yes. Bad ones, mostly. But that’s not really unusual for me, so I haven’t paid it that much attention.” She tilted her head and gave him a curious look. “Why do you ask?”
Sam shot a glance at Andre, who shrugged and nodded. “Andre and I have both been having bad dreams.”
“Fucking horrible nightmares is more like it,” Andre added.
“Exactly,” Sam said. “Violent, bloody ones. And they’re getting worse every night.”
Cecile’s eyes widened. “Oh. Me too. Good God, I never stopped to think that they might have anything to do with this house.”
Bo leaned his elbows on the table. “I’d like for all three of you to tell us as much as you can remember about your dreams. It might be useful.”
David screwed his face up in distaste. “Hey, can we wait ’til after breakfast for that? I don’t wanna hear about blood and guts while I’m eating.”
“Wuss,” Amy teased. She was smiling, but Sam could tell her heart wasn’t in it. The crease between her eyes and the worried looks she kept giving Andre announced her concern to anyone who cared to see.
“Okay, we’ll wait. No big rush.” Bo stood. “Whenever you’re done eating, everybody meet in the library. We’ll hear about these dreams, then we’ll split up and start doing the sweep the way we talked about last night.”
Bo headed into the library, his coffee mug in his hand. Sam managed not to stare at him as he went. The way the man walked was pure sex and would surely get Sam into trouble if he wasn’t careful. He waited until Amy and Andre had both gone, then got himself another cup of coffee and followed them. David and Cecile appeared a few minutes later.
“All right,” Bo said as soon as everyone was settled. “Let’s hear it. Cecile?”
Cecile sat in one of the chairs at the round table, twisting her rings around her fingers. “The dreams take place here, in Oleander House. I’m either outside or on the sun porch, and I can feel that there’s something wrong inside. So I go in. There’s blood all over the walls and the floor, and I can’t find anyone. I keep calling your names, but nobody answers. There’s not even any bodies or anything. Just the blood. I try to leave, but I can’t find the way out. And that’s when I wake up.”
Andre stared at her. “That’s almost exactly what I’ve been dreaming. Except in my dream there’s body parts all over the place too. And I’ve never dreamed that I can’t leave.”
“Have you tried?” Cecile asked very quietly.
Andre rubbed his chin.