The Romance Novel Cure Read Online Free

very low and soft. “I mean you no harm. I want to help you.”
    “Who are you?” whispered Sera, holding still in terror, “where are you?”
    “I’m going to materialize,” he said. “Please, don’t be afraid.”
    The air in front of her shimmered and she felt a sense of heat. Slowly a figure emerged. From a crouching position he slowly stood, towering over her. He took a step back and held his hands out.
    “This is a dream. This is a dream,” said Sera hoarsely, willing herself to wake up. The fire crackled and released the scent of sweet, faint smoke, which spiraled up toward the roof of the cave, where she could just make out a starlit sky. Something about the sky seemed different. Everything seemed so real, not like a dream at all.
    “You are right,” the man said quietly. He was tall and muscular. His hair was very dark brown, like coffee, and fell down his back, where it was twisted into a tail. There were silver streaks running down the length of it. His gray eyes were even darker than his hair, and they were large and filled with intelligence and compassion. A long, deep, scar stretched from his left temple to his jawline. He wore a loose, white shirt and dark pants that were tucked into leather boots. He looked otherworldly, and he was looking at Sera as though he’d never stop.
    “Whose dream is this?” gasped Sera. “And who are you?”
    “I’m Silas. And this… this is a shared dream-space. I made it for us, so we could meet. So that I could warn you. Sera, you can’t stay here. You must flee. At once,” he said, his eyes dark and troubled.
    “Just… wake up?” she asked in confusion.
    “No,” he said gently, “Salem. It’s not safe for you.”
    “What?” she blurted. “I have a new job, a chance to finally do my research. If I can just tie some loose ends together, I’ll be able to finish my research and my dissertation.”
    She did not add that she felt overwhelmed with the need to learn more about her topic, that it had become an obsession to study about the history of witches in this part of the world.
    “You have been called here,” Silas said, looking down at her, taking another step closer. “But it isn’t right. It’s not fair. So, I am meeting you here to tell you: go. Run for your life.”
    “None of this is making any sense,” she whispered. “Please… Silas? Start from the beginning? I’ve been called here?”
    One more step and he was close enough to touch. She looked up at his face and wondered why he seemed so familiar. She felt unnerved, confused, and frightened, but not of him.
    “The beginning?” He smiled, but it was a smile colored with sorrow. “In the beginning, there was you. It has always been you. And now, after all those lifetimes, here you are, close enough to touch. And what must I do? Send you away, immediately. To keep you safe. Because that’s what I do.”
    “Maybe a little more… with the whole details part of this thing?” asked Sera, bemused by his words and his anguished, affectionate expression.
    Silas’s rueful laughter echoed against the cavern walls.
     
    * * *
     
    I turned off my iPad and the bedside lamp and closed my eyes. I guess I had thought there’d be a repeat of the type of scene I’d read while in the cafe this morning. Instead, I wondered about who Silas was, and why was Sera obsessed with witches, as I fell asleep.
     

Greta
     
    In the morning, I got ready as quickly as I could. I have to be at work by seven thirty, most days, and Ben doesn’t have to be at work until nine or even later, so I almost always have the place to myself first thing in the morning. I worked in the northeast quadrant, in a new, spacious building.  I had stayed up far too late reading last night, and I was paying for it now, as I yawned into my second cup of green tea. How could I resist though? One more page, I kept telling myself, just one more!
    Caspian and Valerie had fought side by side in the most thrilling vampyre/