Awakening - Book of Fire (Blood Heritage #1) (11 page)

In his mind he understands she had seen the man who had taken her long before he actually came for her. Her subconscious understood the danger immediately, yet her innocence turned the discomfort inward. Though it was a sad realization for Elizabeth, it gives James hope that the killer can be found. If she had truly known him ahead of time, someone had to have seen something that seemed out of place. He will have to find the right witness and make them realize what they saw out of the ordinary.
Okay, so it’s a needle in a haystack and cases this old are already hard to handle, at least it’s something
. He pulls the original evidence from the girl’s disappearance and begins searching through the interviews, suspects and family members for something that will make sense of her fears. Its well after midnight before James realizes how overwhelmingly tired he is and how much time has passed.

Knowing if he continues to work like this he will never heal, he packs up the boxes and heads home for a few hours of shut-eye, leaving messages for his team that he will be a bit later tomorrow. James intends to take a trip out to see the family of the second girl during the early afternoon hours. Though he has not come up with anything concrete, he feels encouraged and knows deep down he is onto something. He sees the visions of her journals come to life in his dreams and he attempts to remember a face or a feature that will provide some kind of clue his conscious mind is missing. He dreams of the crime scene photos, of the beautiful girls lying in cold submission, looking like angels, their beauty cast in marble like ancient Roman statues. The peaceful expressions on their faces and the contradictory way they’d been discarded, with no attempt to hide them.

Somewhere in the mix of his subconscious musings, James dreams of Amber as well. Feeling her fingertips brushing his hair off his forehead, her warm and strong body resting against him, the softness and hunger of her lips against his, her soft tongue filling him with tenderness and anticipation. He feels the smoothness of her skin, pressing against him as he caresses her back. His heart races and his arousal is undeniable. He takes hold of her hips, pulling her toward him as he rolls onto his back, her silky thighs straddling him. Her warmth engulfs him with absolute pleasure as she takes him into herself with a soft moan of desire. His hands on her hips guiding her rhythm as he pulls her closer. Their bodies and minds as one, their breath in unison as the passion engulfs them in waves of agony and ecstasy combined.

The effort is torture, his side is burning but his lust is burning deeper and he has to take control. He rolls her over pushing himself deep within her, his face buried in her hair and kissing and biting at her neck. He climaxes easily and for a moment is ashamed he has not lasted longer, that he has not pleased her. He kisses her again but she no longer responds, his hand resting in her hair is sticky and tangled. Her body is cold against him and they’re lay in a huge puddle of blood. He screams but it is caught in his throat. He awakes with a gasp and finds he has deeply enjoyed his dreams of her. He has not actually had a wet dream since high school. He’s a bit concerned with his extremely messed-up mix of dreams, work, and reality. He’s anxious and hops in the shower immediately to release some of the negativity and tension of the night. He’ll have to throw his sheets in the wash before he leaves. It has been a long while since he has been with a woman, and even in his dreams it’s a rarity. He wishes he could stop mixing his thoughts of her with his obsession with this case. The team psychologist would love to analyze how twisted and warped his dream world has become, but he will never get a chance.

As the warm water falls on his shoulders and runs down his back he lets his mind wander back to the beautiful woman he hoped to spend some time with tonight. He feels badly that he did not get a chance to call her, but he knows she understands his world and will not give him grief. The release of the night before only feeds his desire and he envisions her on her knees on the floor of the shower taking him into her soft warm lips, he sees her beautiful eyes looking up at him as she strokes slowly and deliberately. He wraps his fingers tight around the vision and matches her stroking with his own. Her tongue brushing the underside of him, teasing him with tiny little flicks and deep agonizing thrusts. He finds his release and lets go, his body trembling as he feels complete relaxation. He focuses back on the real world and shaves the shadows from his jawline and washing his wavy hair realizes It’s getting close to time to get a haircut, he’s feeling a bit shaggy. He washes with his new soap and snickers at the commercial that enticed him to try the product. Funny, he purchased the Axe about the time he met Amber;
perhaps it truly is a babe magnet
.

If she only knew the way he daydreamed about her, perhaps she would not think he was such a sweet guy. But those are secrets men never tell and so he will let her believe his intentions are pure and his interest in her just slowly and appropriately developing in the way women think it should. If he had his way, he would have taken her the first night they met at the bar. Dancing with her like that had driven him absolutely mad with desire and the kiss practically sent him reeling. He left her that night in order to avoid attacking her in his drunken state of arousal. She set him on fire in ways he never felt before, and though he revelled in it when in his private space, it tortured him when he was with her. He only hopes someday he will get the chance to taste her on his lips and feel her body and it's perfection in reality. Somehow he anticipates the real experience will be so much more delicious than the shadowy version of his dreams

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he fixes himself fried eggs and toast. Deciding to take his muscle relaxer and a pill to relieve the pain and tension the previous evening caused he settles in for the rough day ahead. James feels like he’s been run over by a truck. There are mornings when the accident seems like it happened only yesterday. He can still feel the car sliding and the railing piercing his flesh. He only has to hold on long enough for her to get out of the car. The terror in her eyes and the screams of her mother never leaving his mind. The screeching of metal grinding against metal and the sounds of rocks falling against concrete and steel girders, the bridge precariously tilting and the tiny car hopelessly stuck between the railing and a pillar of stone that has collapsed. The front end of the tiny Escort slowly pushing through the railing is unwaveringly making its way toward the long fall into the water below.

Shannon; only five years old is buckled in the backseat. Her mother cannot get to her and when James arrives at the scene completely by chance, she is panicked and attempting to get back into the car. James climbs onto the twisted railing and breaks out the windshield to gain access. He climbs into the front and reaches back to unbuckle the youngster. Just as he gets her into his arms the car slides violently and the bent and torn railing pierces him deeply in the side. The driver’s side of the car is slowly being crushed and he is nearly trapped.

He pushes the little one out the window to her mother in desperation, and works at freeing himself. Then he hears the sound of another child crying, it is faint. He tries to reach her but it is too late, there is no way to get her out of that side of the backseat. He does not remember the rest as a steel pipe falls through the window and strikes him hard across the forehead. Now he bears the label and the scars of a hero, but he only feels like a man doing what has to be done.

Had he known the pain he would suffer and scars he would bear, he would not have changed anything about his reactions that day. The mother had been badly injured but little Shannon had been completely unscratched. Her twin sister Sharon had been killed very quickly; unfortunately there was nothing anyone could have done to save her. Mother and daughter were both back at home now and working on putting the pieces back together. Though a tragedy to lose one daughter, he knows she would have certainly lost the other as well without his intervention.

Standing in the steamy bathroom looking at his scarred face and the deep gash in his side that remains raw and angry, he smiles to himself.
Every good deed comes with a price he reminds himself
, and he believes this price is well worth it. He rubs on the healing ointment Rissa has given him to help the scar fade and dresses for work, the tingling of the herbs soothing his sensitive skin. The medication has begun to take effect and he feels comfortable for the time being. He only takes an extremely low dosage of pain medication so he remains fully functional and can drive without adverse effects. Unfortunately the downside of his dedication is the constant presence of some level of gnawing ache within his healing flesh. Drawing on the pain, he tells himself it will only make him stronger, sharpen his resolve. He thinks of himself as a soldier of sorts, a survivor.

Stopping at the Seven Candles he hopes to run into his favorite barista for a smile and a hug before he sets off to meet with the second family. She feels him long before she sees him; his warm and sensuous energy calling to her as she turns to greet him with a sly smile. He immediately feels self-conscious for his dreams.
Does she somehow know of his desires, does she know what he did in the shower this morning
? He catches himself and gives her a warm hug. "
I missed you"
he says and she reciprocates the feeling.

She makes his favorite sweet butterscotch white mocha and they sit for a few minutes enjoying the silence and the warmth of their beverages. There is a certain comfort in having him near, a security she is still not used too, she had not even realized it was missing before. His eyes look right into her soul and he takes her for everything she is, without judgement or fear.
There is so much he doesn't know about me
, she thinks to herself.
Perhaps he would not care for me if he knew my dark secrets, the past is so full of shadows and how could anyone understand or accept the curse, or gift, as Rissa calls it
. She will pretend to be as normal as possible when he’s around, not that she actually has any control over the visions. If one decides it wants to interfere with her love life, it most certainly will. She doesn't want anything to come between them.
There is something different about this man, something necessary; if that makes any sense.

He sits across from her looking into her beautiful eyes. They sparkle with mischief and danger and he can't put his finger on why she seems so mysterious to him. She smiles and there is so much behind her expressions. Thoughts, dreams, desires swirling behind her eyes and only surfacing in the watery pools for a moment, but not long enough for him to view them in their full intensity. She’s open and yet shielded. Complex and simple at the same time and it’s puzzling to him. Most women seem so shallow to him. She is beautiful, but it is more than her face and stunning body he is drawn to. She is something much more, a rose with tightly woven petals revealing her true colors slowly when the circumstances are right. One delicate petal at a time opening to share its elegance and fragrance to the viewer patient enough to wait. There is something hidden deep within her, he is sure of it, he just has no idea what kind of mysteries she is hiding.

Something about being near her helps to ease the burdens on his mind and his heart and he breathes in her warm sweetness. He stands and kisses her shoulder before heading off for work. He feels the tiny scar and brushes his lips against the raised flesh. She puts her hand over where he has kissed her and returns to her station for the onslaught of coffee addicts on their way to work. Rissa is there laughing at her when she starts the coffee grinder. "
You’re a goner"
she says to Amber, "
he has you head over heels"!

She looks at her friend with a feigned look of shock and insult. "
No way, it's the other way around
," she says.

"Yes… I can see the truth in that as well. I think you two might just be soul-mates. I have never seen him with a woman, and I have known him for many years. I had actually begun to wonder if he might be interested in men since he was so attractive and so apparently single." The girls have a great laugh over that and Rissa excuses herself to the back room for some inventory work while Amber takes care of the front end.

James enters the office and his partner Jackson is waiting for him. He wants to go out to meet with Jennifer's parents. This girl was the daughter of an acquaintance of his, and though not close friends he feels the man's pain and wants to show his support and to reassure him that his daughter is not going to be forgotten. James agrees that his presence may help this sad and angry father feel more comfortable with the potentially odd line of questioning. Driving to the home of the second victim of what has been dubbed the Sisters case the men sit in silence. James expects this girl too has probably been adopted and is shocked when he meets her mother; who is the spitting image of the girl.
Surely this has to be her true mother!
James and Jackson give their condolences and assure both parents they are doing everything in their power to find out what happened to their daughter, they say all the things they know don't really do anything to help and the weight of the grief in the room is thick.