The light stung his eyes and his dream lingered in his mind. "What?" he gasped as he coughed as the feeling of choking faded. His mind still clung to the dream and the feeling of the fiery fluid tore through his nerve fibers. He dug his fingers into his forearms and scratched expecting to feel clumps of ash fall into his hands.
"You alright?" Ania asked.
"Yeah." Callen lied. He was far from all right, but he knew how to lie about pain. "Just dreams." He wiped the sweat from his forehead and sat up in his bed.
"Me too." She whispered. "They're always in my dreams. They won't go away. You fell asleep while we were playing games last night...Tende carried you to your bed."
Callen looked at his sister and ignored the burning like he had done with his chemotherapy. He took a deep breath. His heart pounded. He swallowed hard and tried to sound tough. "Yeah." He hoped his voice didn't shake too much.
"Any idea what they wanted?" Ania whispered. "We haven't gotten a chance to talk about..."
"What?"
"The metal demons."
"No." Callen touched his father's cross for comfort. He began to relax a little, and the fire in his nervous system began to calm. "No idea...but they got Derrick."
"There haven't been any reports." Ania sighed. "So, hopefully, he got out."
Callen nodded. "Yeah." The feeling of loss swelled inside him twisting with the maelstrom of emotions still lingering beneath the surface. Physical pain he could deal with. He felt the corners of the cross dent his flesh as he tightened his grip almost enough to draw blood.
"Callen, you sure you're alright?"
"Fine." He groaned. He didn't want to talk about the monsters or anything else. He wanted to protect both of them and push their mutual dread into a vault in the back of their minds. He had played this role so many times. The role of the older brother is to protect. He always did what he could, even from his hospital bed. He had never fed her worries when he was in the hospital, and he wasn't going to now, even if a part of him knew they needed each other.
"I know you're not fine. Hanging out and playing games is a good distraction, but I'm not fine. I'm here when you need me."
"Right." He pushed himself out of bed and his feet touched the old wood floor. He felt the cold rush up his legs. The cold felt good. He liked the cold. He began to relax a little as a distant melody buzzed somewhere deep in his mind.
"Tende and Sadie are waiting for us in the pub. Hurry up and get dressed. I know Sadie's gonna be pissed, but we gotta take out that vampire scientist in Shadowborne today and Rurik's breakfast is no good cold. So, let's go."
He nodded. "Good cold." He murmured as she left.
He took a cold shower to wash the last bit of burning from his flesh. As the water ran down his face, he tried to sort through his nightmare, but he could find no explanation. In all of his logic, nothing made sense.