Heat of the Night

Sylvia Day

Heat of the Night

The second book in the Dream Guardians series, 2007

To my family, who have been so tremendously supportive of my career with nary a complaint about how much I work/write. Releasing nine books in one year takes a lot out of a writer, and they paid the price with such grace and love.

Thank you for embracing my dream and adjusting your lives to suit it. There are no words to express how much that means to me. You give me strength.

I love you.

Acknowledgments

Thanks go out to my critique partner, A

Hugs go out to fabulous authors and dear friends Renee Luke, Sasha White, and Jordan Summers who were there on the other side of the IM window when I needed someone to listen, commiserate, and give me a swift kick in the @ss.

To my sister, Samara Day, who puts up with me and my aversion to talking on the phone.

You are one of the precious lights in my life, Sam. I have loved you with all my heart from the day you were born. As you've grown into a woman I admire and respect, I only love you more. You are a blessing I am grateful for every day.

Beware of the Key that opens the Lock

and reveals the Truth.

Chapter 1

The Twilight

Co

It was a split-second assault, but the tranquilizer took a bit longer to work than that. The guard had time to yank the dart free and withdraw his glaive before his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the floor in a puddle of red garments.

"Sorry chap," Co

Co

"You're going to see things inside that will startle you," Co

"Yes, Captain."

Wager aimed a pulse emitter at the massive red torii gate that signaled the entrance to the Temple complex, temporarily disturbing the vid unit that recorded those who visited. Co

For centuries, he and every member of his team had hunted the Dreamer who was prophesied to come to their world through the dream state and destroy them. The Dreamer who would see them as they were and recognize that they were not a figment of a nocturnal imagination, but real beings who lived in the Twilight-the place where the human mind came in slumber.

But Co

Lies, all of it. All these years wasted. Luckily for the Key-also known i

Now it was Co

Let's go, he mouthed.

With the timing down to pinpoint accuracy, they rushed through the gate. They split into two teams ru

The wind blew gently, carrying with it the fragrance of nearby flowers and fields of wild grass. It was the time of day when the Temple was closed to the general public and the Elders were secluded in meditation. The perfect time to break in and steal whatever information and secrets they could get their hands on.

Co

The two teams moved within the shadows, highly aware that any misstep would allow the vid units around the perimeter to pick up their incursion. In the center of the vast space waited semicircular rows of benches that faced the columned entryway they had just come through. Rising several stories high, there were so many benches the Guardians had lost count of the number of Elders who ruled from them long ago. This was the heart of their world, the center of law and order. The seat of power.

Regrouping at the middle hallway that led to the honden, Co

The hall to the west branched off toward the Elders' living quarters. The hall to the right went to a secluded open-air meditation courtyard.

This center gallery was where it got freaky. After his first-and heretofore only-Temple break-in, he was prepared. His men weren't.

He looked at them with an arched brow, silently admonishing them to heed his earlier command. They nodded grimly, and Co

As they walked, a vibration beneath their feet drew everyone's attention to the floor. The stone shimmered and became translucent, creating the impression that the ground had disintegrated and they were about to fall into an endless blanket of stars. He groped for the wall by instinct, his teeth gritted together, then the view of space melted into a swirling kaleidoscope of colors.

"Fuck me," Wager breathed.

Co

"Is that real?" Corporal Trent whispered fiercely. "Or a hologram of some sort?"

Lifting his hand, Co

They moved past the private Elder library to reach the control room. There was one Elder there, a lone sentinel lost within a vast space dominated by high walls lined with bound volumes and a large console. As was the custom of the Elders, he'd been left behind when the others retired for the afternoon, which made him the unfortunate recipient of a tranq dart to the neck. Co

"I'll loop the vids so you're not recorded," the lieutenant said.

Wager stepped up and began to work, his posture straight and legs slightly parted, firmly entrenched in his assignment. With his long black hair restrained in a queue and stormy gray eyes, he had a renegade appearance to go along with his loose-ca