Dark Side of Dawn: The Nightmare Chronicles by Kathryn Smith Page A

God, I couldn’t believe my voiceactually sounded relatively normal when inside I was shaking. I was scared and mad and so very tempted to whisper a waking nightmare for him alone. I had done it before—to a poor girl in a coffee shop. I’d made her think there were spiders on her.
    Spiders were too good for this guy.
    He smiled at me. “Yes. Every one by hand.”
    I shuddered, but kept the smile on my face. “How much for this one?” I pointed at the doll of Amanda.
    His face changed when he looked at the doll. His expression became almost loving. I’d never been so disturbed by another human in my entire life as I was at that moment. “I’m sorry, but she’s for display only.”
    “Oh,” I tried to sound disappointed rather than disgusted. “Is she part of your private collection?”
    He nodded, light brown hair catching a slight green tint under the fluorescent lights. “She’s one of my special girls, yes.”
    My stomach rolled. “That’s too bad.” What would I have done with it if he had sold it to me? It wasn’t like I could give it to Amanda.
    My gaze jumped to Noah just a few booths away. He was busy talking to the guy there as he held a samurai sword in his hands. Here I was, with Amanda’s rapist in front of me. I should tell Noah. We could call the police.
    And then what? Tell them that I had saw the guy inAmanda’s dream? We had no proof. Nothing except that I knew without a doubt that this was him.
    For that reason, I couldn’t tell Noah. I wanted to kill this guy, what would Noah want to do to him? That sword would get tested real quick. Noah would be up on assault charges at best, and we’d still have no proof that this guy was the rapist.
    No, I couldn’t tell Noah. Not yet. I’d rather risk his being angry at me than risk him doing something he’d regret.
    “You know,” he was saying, eyeing me like Noah did sometimes when he was in artist mode. Except, this made me feel uneasy rather than desirable. “You have gorgeous hair. If you ever decide to cut it, I’d be interested in buying the ends.”
    He wanted to buy my hair? Gross.
    And then, it was like a puzzle piece literally snapping into place. Hair . I looked at the Amanda doll again. The hair wasn’t just the same shade as Amanda’s, it was Amanda’s!
    I could just puke I felt so sick. No wonder he wouldn’t sell it. This doll was one of his trophies. He not only made dolls of his victims, but he used their hair as well.
    I really hoped there was a hell.
    My gaze went to a little plastic card holder on the table. “Mind if I take a card? In case I do get a haircut.”
    “Of course not,” the son of a bitch said with an easy, aw-shucks grin. “I do custom work as well.”
    So I noticed.
    Mother , a voice whispered in my head. It was that same voice I’d used to bring about the spiders at Starbucks. I wondered why his mother would be the stuff of nightmares? Or more to the point, the kind of stuff a Nightmare could use against him. Exploiting fear was more of a Night Terror thing, but it was yet another talent I seemed to have that no one could explain.
    “Thanks.” I forced another smile and took one his cards. Then I took two more just in case I lost that one. Phillip Durdan. He had a shop in Brooklyn. Now the police would know where to find him.
    And now I knew how to find him too. I might not be able to turn his sorry ass over to the cops, but I could do something almost as good. Now that I had met him I could go into his dreams.
    Do no harm, I reminded myself as I walked away, his card tucked in a zippered compartment in my purse. I was still shaky, but that gave way to sheer determination as I approached Noah.
    I wasn’t going to harm Phillip Durdan.
    But that didn’t mean I couldn’t make him pay.
     
    Noah dropped me off at my place. He was going to visit with Amanda and make sure she had dinner before hisyounger sister Mia arrived to stay the night. He asked me if I wanted to come with him. I