A Glimpse of the Dark Side: Adult Paranormal Erotic Romance Collection (5 page)

"Can you try to contact her again?" Agent Talbot
asked.

"Yes, of course," January said. "But it's
actually going to be difficult to find her because she is
alive."

"What do you mean?" Mr. Morgan said.

January tried to explain. "Dead people have
certain senses that we don't have. They're not tied to their bodies
anymore, and they see things in ways that we can't. Lianna is still
alive, thankfully, but she can only use what her regular five
senses tell her. And she's scared, and in pain. It's going to be
hard for her to tell me anything."

The Morgans exchanged a worried glance.

"But I will try. I will use every last ounce of
strength I have to find her. The agents here might have to do the
rest."

"Of course," Mrs. Morgan said. "If there is
anything we can do to help you, please, let us know." She clasped
her hands together. "We are so grateful to you already. It's been
so hard, not even knowing if she was alive."

January nodded and stood up. "I think I'm ready
to try again," she said.

Agent Sterling followed her up the stairs to
Lianna's room. "I'm coming with you."

"What? No, I need to be alone. It's hard enough
for me to concentrate in there without... someone else."
Someone
who makes it hard for me to concentrate anyway
, was what she
was thinking.

"You'll have to try," he said. "January, I saw
how you looked when you came out of that room. Your eyes... you
looked like you were about to collapse. I can't have you putting
yourself in danger. Someone needs to be there with you."

She was irritated, then touched. She also felt a
secret thrill when he said her name. "Alright,
Ashton
," she
said. "Just try not to make any noise, or look... distracting."

"Finally, all that 'how not to look distracting'
training I had at the Academy is paying off," he deadpanned.

She stared at him, not sure if he really was
joking. He wasn't even smiling. And didn't Agent Talbot say...

"And if you call me Ashton again, you're fired.
It's Ash."

She blinked when he said this. His face had
softened. Definitely being friendly.

She supposed she could accept that, she thought
as she finally managed to go on up the stairs.

JANUARY STAYED IN Lianna's bedroom for three
hours. True to his word, Ash barely moved the entire time, unless
she asked him to get her something to drink. She found it strangely
easy to concentrate around him. At times she almost felt like he
was boosting her powers, because he made her feel so safe and at
ease. She started to feel like they were partners.

Unfortunately, she wasn't getting any more
information out of Lianna than she had gotten before. The girl was
terrified, and much of the time she was unconscious. She was also
still unsure of why she was hearing another woman's voice in her
head.

Clearly her own powers were not very well-formed
and she had not learned how to control them. Lianna obviously
didn't even know she had them.

January was exhausted. After one particularly
grueling effort, she fell back onto the bed and closed her eyes.
Ash appeared at her side immediately. She couldn't believe how
quickly and silently he moved.

"Alright, that's enough. You need to stop."

"No, I can't, Ash. I am so close. If I could
just get her to look around. I just need her to see something,
anything, that could help us. Any time I spend away from her is
more time that she could be hurt, or worse. You know that."

He stared at her. "Fine. One more time, and then
we're going back to the hotel. It's late and you need to get some
rest."

She smiled at him. "Your concern is touching,
Agent."

He sat down across the room again and shrugged.
"You're not going to be able to help find her if you're in the
hospital. I'm just protecting our assets."

"Of course. How sweet," she said.

He didn't answer, but his gray eyes
sparkled.

She sat up and got ready to reach out to Lianna
again.

Once he will miss, twice he will miss...

This time she felt the girl there
immediately.

Lianna was getting used to her.

"Lianna,"
she told her,
"I need you to
help me. I need you to look around and tell me what you
see."

She could feel the girl's mind stirring.

I can't see anything,
was the reply.
It's dark here. When he opens the door, he shines a light in my
face, and I can't see.

"Door? What kind of door?"
January
pressed.
"What does it look like"

Silence.

Dammit,
January swore silently. Lianna
was gone again. January started to get up off the bed, when...

There's a little crack in the door where some
light comes through,
Lianna said.

"Can you see anything?"
January asked.
She didn't want to scare the girl away.

I think I can see... some letters.
E...G...

Silence again, for many long seconds. It was
clearly hard for the girl to concentrate enough to project her
thoughts, especially through the pain she was feeling. January
tried even harder to reach her, to strengthen Lianna's nascent
ability with her own.

"Come on, Lianna, talk to me..."

The girl came back again.
L... A...

From the chair, Ash watched January's body go
stiff, and her eyes roll back in her head, showing the whites. He
sprang to her side, and shook her gently. "January!"

When she finally came to, and could speak again,
she said a single word:
"Eglantine."

"NO, I'M AFRAID it doesn't mean anything to us.
Is it a person?" Mr. Morgan said.

"It's a flower," January said, from her corner
of the living room sofa.

Everyone looked at her. It was the first
sentence she had spoken since Ash had helped her come downstairs.
She was wrapped up in a blanket and it was still a little hard for
her to talk. Ash kept stealing glances at her.

"A sweet briar. It's a kind of rose."

Agent Talbot gave a frustrated sigh. "That could
mean anything. It could be an actual flower, or a name, or a brand
of tomato sauce, for all we know. We don't even know where she is.
He could have taken her anywhere in the country by now."

"No, she's close by," January spoke up again. "I
wouldn't be able to reach her otherwise."

"It's a place to start." Ash said. "Let's get a
list of people and businesses in town that match the word
'eglantine'."

Agent Talbot took her cell phone out of her
pocket and started making a call.

Ash stood up. "Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, thank you so
much for letting us take over your house like this. We're done for
the night. We'll contact you again tomorrow if we need to come
back. I just need to make a few phone calls and we will be
leaving."

January folded up the blanket and set it in a
corner of the sofa. She could hear Ash talking on his cell phone,
in short terse sentences full of terms she didn't understand. He
looked tight, energized, alive.

This is what he was born for,
she
thought.

She wandered over to the den. Everywhere she
looked, there were ships: models of piratical-looking brigs, aerial
stills of huge aircraft carriers, black and white photographs of
ocean liners with people in turn-of-the-century clothing waving
from the decks.

She walked around the room, taking it all in.
She stopped at a picture of Mr. and Mrs. Morgan and Lianna aboard a
large navy cruiser. They were all wearing old-fashioned sailor caps
and saluting the camera.

"Naval history is a hobby of mine," Mr. Morgan
said, coming up behind her. "My wife won't let me have these things
anywhere else in the house, so it all goes in here."

"They're beautiful," January said. "The ships.
They're all so different from each other."

Mr. Morgan's face lit up. "That's exactly why I
love them so much. Each one has a life, a history," he said, "a
name." He smiled, a little sadly. "Just like people."

THEY GRABBED A quick dinner on the way back to
the hotel. January was still smarting from the day's exertions. She
couldn't wait to get into her ugly room with the runny water lily,
take a shower and go to bed.

When she had showered, she realized she was wide
awake. She sighed, put on some fresh clothes and went out to the
hotel lobby. It was empty, except for a young couple pushing the
limits of socially acceptable public affection. As January passed
them, they stood up, holding hands, and departed toward the
rooms.

Have fun,
January thought.

She stepped out onto the deserted pool deck and
crossed to the opposite railing. Below was a spectacular view of
the garbage dumpsters, and beyond it, the dark highway, red and
white lights humming past into the orange horizon.

"Lovely, isn't it?" someone said behind her.

She turned to see Ash sitting on one of the
darkened pool chairs. He was still in his suit, but his tie was
undone and his shirt cuffs were unbuttoned. He stood and walked
over to January, still looking at the highway. She was never
completely sure when he was joking.

"Don't you ever sleep?" she asked him.

"I have trouble sleeping," he said. "It's worse
when I'm on a case." He looked at her. "What about you? I thought
you would be exhausted."

"So did I," she said. "I just can't stop
thinking about Lianna and her parents. This is uncharted territory
for me."

He looked at her with a look that said
tell
me more.
She was not used to seeing that look. In her
experience, most people were just waiting for their turn to
talk.

She shrugged. "I guess I'm used to telling
people they have to let go of someone they love; to move on with
their lives. I've gotten pretty good at that." She looked up at
him. "But now I'm telling the Morgans they have to hang on..." She
trailed off.

"And this scares you?"

She sighed. "I just know that no matter how hard
they hang on, how much they hope, they might still lose her. And
the harder they hang on, the worse it's going to be for them in the
end."

She turned toward the highway, afraid she was
going to start blubbering again. She had done enough of that today
already.

He didn't say anything.

Then, gently, she felt his hand stroking her
hair. When she turned back to him, the look on his face was so kind
and understanding, she felt her heart leap in her chest.

He brought his hand under her chin and lifted
her face to his. "Sometimes the risk is worth the reward."

"Are we still talking about Lianna?" she managed
to whisper.

He smiled that rare, beautiful smile, and kissed
her... a sweet, passionate kiss that flushed her to the core with a
dazzling mix of fear and joy.

When they finally parted in what felt like an
eternity later, he held her hands and looked in her eyes. "January,
I am not in the habit of doing this," he said, "but you are a very
special woman. I feel very drawn to you."

She smiled, still tingling. "I feel the same
way."

"Good," he said. "But let's hold that thought.
For now, I think we should both get some sleep." He put his arm
around her and they walked back toward the hotel together.

"What's going to happen tomorrow?" she
asked.

"I'd like to see the Morgans again. If you have
it in you, I'd like you to try to contact Lianna again, to see if
we can expand on what she told you."

"That's fine," she said. "I'm starting to feel
like they're a part of my family. Mr. Morgan, especially. There is
something so sweet about him. Did you see his ship collection?"

"No, I didn't."

"In his study. He has all these pictures and
models of different ships." She smiled. "He thinks of them as
people."

Ash stopped walking.

"What?" she asked him.

He thought for a second. "I don't know. Maybe
nothing," he said. "But you just gave me an idea." He kissed her
quickly on the lips. "Good night, January. Get some rest."

She went back to her room and got in bed. Soon,
she was floating off into a restful sleep.

"EGLANTINE RAE SMITH," Agent Talbot read off her
cell phone screen. "93 years old, currently residing at the Sunrise
Assisted Living Community. Advanced Alzheimer's." She pursed her
lips. "Not our likeliest candidate for 'homicidal maniac.'"

Ash took another drink of burnt hotel coffee.
"What else?"

"Mark Eglantine, 31 years old, no known family.
Two prior arrests for assault and battery, one conviction." She
looked up. "A little more promising."

She continued to scroll and tap on her screen.
"A few more names, nothing too noteworthy: one Eglantine Travel
Agency; not one, but two florists and an elementary school." She
put down her phone.

Ash nodded. "Let's split them up. I'll take the
individuals, you take the businesses. I'd also like to go back to
the Morgans to see if January can get something more solid from
Lianna."

He looked at January.

She nodded quickly, trying not to keep his gaze
too long. She was jittery and stiff.
What is this, high
school?
she scolded herself.

Ash, on the other hand, was as polite and
unreadable as ever. He showed no sign of even remembering the night
before. January got flustered and knocked a spoon off the table.
The agents looked at her. Ash bent down and retrieved the
spoon.

"Thank you," she told him, feeling like an
idiot.
Calm down!

When she looked back up at him she could have
sworn she saw his eyes flash with amusement, but she couldn't be
sure.

She looked at Agent Talbot, but the other woman
was busy adjusting her lipstick in a pocket mirror. She almost
smiled. Well, TV didn't picture female agents like that. But the
image fit Agent Talbot well.