Blood Dreams (20 page)

She thought of Hollis and where monsters might hide.

Unlike all her past experiences, this time the transition was effortless and almost instant. She wasn’t sitting across from Marc in his living room, she was standing beside him on Main Street in Venture. A very recognizable Main Street, with noise and people and cars, and only one slight peculiarity.

“I meant to ask years ago,” Marc said. “Why is there always so much purple?” He was studying a purple fire hydrant plunked down improbably in the middle of the sidewalk near them and not far from where three purple cars were parked.

“I like purple.” She’d never really thought about it but supposed that was as good a reason as any other. It was, after all, her dream world.

Marc shrugged philosophically. “Works for me. Why are we in downtown, though? Oh, wait—you did this before, years ago. Picked a recognizable landmark to start off from. Said it anchored you.”

“Yeah. And now that it has…I need to know where Hollis is. I need to know where monsters hide.” It wasn’t like she was making a wish of a magic lamp but rather telling her own mind, her dream self, how her energy needed to be directed.

And, either because of the need driving her or simply because so much else had changed, the familiar scenery around them shifted in a rush of color and sound, and they found themselves in another not-so-familiar but recognizable spot on the very edge of Prophet County.

“Shit,” Marc said. “This is no warehouse. It was an asylum, back in the days when they were called that. And didn’t somebody try to run a hotel from here when we were kids?”

“I think so. Didn’t last long, though. Marc, the basement of that building has to be huge.”

“Searching it won’t be a cinch and won’t be quick,” he agreed. “We’d better get back and get started.”

She hesitated for just a moment. “I want to run in there and start looking for Hollis. Stupid, since it’s my dream. She’d be there, the way I want her to be. Unhurt. Not being held by a monster.”

Marc’s fingers tightened around hers. “We need to get back, Dani. We need to gather up the others and figure out how to cover the ground we have to cover. And if I remember right, dream-walking always takes more real time than you expect, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah. Yeah, it does.”

“Then we should go.”

“You’re right. Of course, you’re right. I can’t stop time, can I? Maybe here, but not for real.”

“We’ll beat time,” he assured her.

Dani wondered if he was right, but there wasn’t really time—ironically—to ponder it.

“Okay,” she said. “Back home…” And didn’t realize until much later that by “home” she meant Marc’s.

H
ollis thought she might have fooled him the first time he checked on her, but when he came back again, he stuck a pin in her arm.

There was no warning and no way for her to feign unconsciousness when the jabbing pain caused her to flinch and catch her breath.

“Ah. So you are awake. I thought you might have been playing possum, Audrey. So naughty. I’ll have to punish you for that.”

Audrey? So the name on the bracelet did mean something. Christ, the last time an evil serial killer was convinced I was another woman, it was Audra. What is it with me and variations of that name?

Since he knew she was awake, she opened her eyes slowly, blinking at the brightness of lights that hadn’t bothered her when Becky had leaned over her.

She wondered if that meant something.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said softly, his mouth almost caressing the words.

She didn’t have a clue who he was, just what he was, and it wasn’t the first time she found herself wondering how it was that monsters could look so goddamn
normal
.

Like the “regular guy” neighbor next door.

Something evil dressed in human clothing.

He was not a tall man or an especially short man. Average height, average build, bland coloring. But his small, neutral eyes were…curiously shiny, almost metallic, and he didn’t seem to blink very often.

Other than that, he just looked…normal.

Don’t get distracted by what he looks like, dammit. If you want to survive this, work to make it happen. You have before, you can again. You’ve got fucking nine lives, just like a cat.

Quentin said so.

Of course, he also said you’d used up at least seven of them, and that was a few months back….

“Hi.” She didn’t try to fake a smile at her captor but did go for a quizzical expression. “So I’m…Audrey? Cool. Hey, have you ever considered that there really is a hell?”

J
ordan offered Dani and Marc a sick smile when they met up outside the sheriff’s department, and his first words were, “Christ, I don’t know how I could have lost her.”

Marc shook his head. “Don’t blame yourself. If Dani’s right, this bastard’s been a step ahead of us all the way.”

Dani was looking at Bishop, understanding now that the haunted expression with which she was so familiar through her repeated vision dreams came not from a threat to his wife but from the certain knowledge that his maneuvering, his determination to hunt this particular killer, had placed one of his team directly in harm’s way.

“Will it be worth it?” she asked him, not sure if it was curiosity or something else that drove her to. “If Hollis pays with her life, will it be worth it?”

“I don’t know.” He drew a breath, and his wide shoulders shifted as though under a heavy burden. “If we find this monster, catch it…cage it…kill it…How many other lives might be saved? I don’t know. This time, I don’t know.”

Gabriel said, “We can discuss ethics later. Right now I say we move. Dani, you’re sure about this old mental hospital?”

“I’m sure.” She looked again at Bishop. “Your guardian. Has she—”

“Reported in ten minutes ago.” His voice was steady, like his gaze. “It’s not looking good for Paris, Dani, but not from any outside threat. Brain activity has dropped to minimal levels, and some of her other vital functions have been deteriorating. Her doctors say you might want to be there.”

The pull to be with her sister, her twin, was inexpressibly strong, but Dani wavered for only an instant.

“And you can do what you have to, Dani. When the time comes. You’ll know. You’ll make the right choice.”

“I have to do this,” she said, as much to herself as to anyone else. “I have to. Paris knows that.”

Marc took her hand, saying only, “Let’s go.”

It was 12:35.

H
ollis coughed and tried desperately to draw air into her bruised throat.

“Watch that mouth,” her captor said sternly. “One more thing I have to punish you for, Audrey.”

Okay, bad idea. Very bad idea. Note to self: Maniacal serial killer does not like smart-ass questions.

Oh, Jesus, I’m scared….

22

B
ETWEEN THE TIME
Marc had called from his house and their arrival at the sheriff’s department, someone had managed to produce original blueprints for the old mental hospital, blueprints they unrolled on the hood of Marc’s cruiser when they parked all the vehicles at the base of the long driveway.

It was 1:15.

“I gather we think this guy’s expecting us,” Jordan commented as they studied the plans.

Dani was frowning down at them, wishing she could remember more details from the vision dream when she wasn’t actually in the middle of it. Wasn’t there supposed to be a storm?

That thought had barely crossed her mind when she heard distant thunder, right on cue.

Sometimes she thought the universe had a sense of humor.

This wasn’t one of those times.

“We have to assume he is,” Marc replied to Jordan. “Dani believes this was his goal all along, to collect himself a few psychics. Divide and conquer, so to speak, and build up his own résumé. He probably wanted to start with Paris because her ability could be used as a weapon, but…”

Dani finished, “But I think he wants any ability he can grab.” She eyed the darkening sky uneasily.

Gabriel was checking his weapon, and said with a grunt, “He’ll be disappointed in Rox and me. Each of us is psychic only when we’re asleep. A bit like Dani used to be. Hell. Dani—”

“Sorry.”

“You’re shocking all of us,” Jordan said, shifting just a bit to put another inch of space between his arm and hers. “All except Marc, that is.”

Dani and Marc exchanged glances, and she said, “Yeah, we noticed that. Sorry for the static discharge, guys. I don’t know if it’s the coming storm or…well, whatever we find in there, but I can’t seem to control it very well right now.”

Roxanne said, “As intense as this is, I’m not surprised.” She took a closer look at the plans, and added, “Two main buildings, both presumably with basements. We split up to search?”

Marc was nodding. “No other way to cover the ground, not if we need to hurry. And we do. Dani, do you sense anything from the buildings?”

She frowned, concentrating, then winced. “General pain and sadness, old echoes. This was not a positive place at any stage of its life.”

“Bishop? Are you getting anything?”

He shook his head. “Miranda and I have each closed down the connection between us as far as we could. Without that, I’m at less than half strength. And the weather affects me more without the benefit of her shields. I can barely read Jordan, and he’s broadcasting like a beacon.”

Jordan blinked. “I am?”

“You are. Remind me to talk to you about shielding, if we have a minute at the end of this.”

“You mean if we’re still standing at the end of this? Because I got the impression that wasn’t likely.”

“Don’t be a pessimist,” Marc said. “Dani, if you don’t have strong feelings about it one way or the other, I’m picking the front building for you, me, and Bishop. Gabriel, Roxanne, and Jordan will take the one in the back.”

Roxanne exchanged a look with her brother, and then said to Marc, “I need to be with you guys.”

“Why?”

“Because if this monster is bent on collecting psychics, each group needs at least one nonpsychic with a gun ready who won’t be affected by any kind of mental attack. That’ll be me. When I’m awake, I have zero psychic abilities.”

“My ability is passive,” Marc pointed out.

“It’s evolved. Probably the connection with Dani. And, trust me, if this guy is collecting neat abilities, he’ll want yours; being able to identify another psychic can come in mighty handy when those are the folks hunting you.”

“She has a point,” Dani said.

“Meant to tell you,” Bishop murmured. “Right now you’re also a bit like a conduit for Dani. Which means he could get to her through you.”

“And vice versa,” Dani said.

Bishop nodded.

Jordan said, “The rear building is quite a bit smaller than the one in front, so I think Gabriel and I can search it fairly quickly alone. That is—Dani, are you sure it’s a basement?”

“All I know is that I don’t remember seeing any windows,” she told him.

Jordan sighed. “We’ll hurry.”

“Yeah, I would.”

“Marc, if we do meet up with this guy, then what are our orders?”

“Shoot to kill.”

Jordan blinked again. “That always sounds so melodramatic in movies. In real life, not so much. What if he isn’t armed?”

“He is. Armed and dangerous. That is my official statement as sheriff of Prophet County.” Marc looked at his chief deputy steadily. “We couldn’t come out here in force, and we’re short on time. Hollis is in there, probably being tortured. It’s a monster, Jordan. If you see one, shoot it.”

“Copy that,” Jordan said.

Marc looked at the others. “Okay, then. Roxanne, you’re with us.”

“Copy that,” she said.

B
y the time they reached the buildings, moving cautiously, the storm was upon them. And it was a very dangerous storm for an area that hadn’t seen any decent rain for weeks: It was a dry electrical storm.

The raw energy swirling all around them didn’t do much for Dani’s control; when she reached for a metal door handle, the sparks ignited a clump of long grass growing wild at its base.

“Damn,” she said.

“Let me.” Bishop brushed past her, ignoring the skittering of sparks that danced across the arm of his leather jacket, and paused only to stamp out the little fire before going to work on the lock.

Worried, Dani said to Marc, “If all this energy is feeding him the way it’s feeding me, this is worse than a trap. The deeper we go into this building, the easier it’ll be to contain energy, focus it. The walls, the ceilings, the floors, everything will help. Help him, if he’s been practicing his control. But I haven’t been practicing. I don’t know if I can control this. At all.”

“Make it a weapon,” Roxanne suggested, her own at the ready. “Dunno if it’s lethal, but you could sure surprise the hell out of somebody.” She followed Bishop into the building.

“She’s right,” Marc said. “I know you don’t want to carry a gun, so use what you’ve got.”

“You’re getting more psychic all the time.” When he questioned silently with a lifted brow, she added, “The gun thing. We haven’t discussed it. Out loud, anyway.”

They eased into the building behind the other two, and as she looked around, Dani saw absolutely nothing that looked familiar.

And nothing that looked like a warehouse.

They had entered through a huge kitchen and from there found their way out into the central area of what appeared to be the ground floor.

It was a strange and uneasy mix of Victorian hospital and Art Deco hotel decor—the furnishings still in place, brass fixtures, and dusty velvet draperies cloaking all the windows so that the space was dim and filled with shadows.

“Creepy place,” Roxanne said. “Big creepy place. How we doing on time?”

Dani didn’t have to look at a clock or watch. “We’re running out of it. Hollis is running out of it. And I don’t see a damn thing that looks familiar.”

“One plus is that the building isn’t on fire,” Marc said. “A symbolic representation of energy, maybe?”

“Maybe,” Dani agreed.

“This place could take a lightning hit yet and go up like a match.” Roxanne shrugged. “I say expect the worst and then you can only be surprised pleasantly. We split up?”

Marc looked at Dani, then nodded. “Have to. We’re looking for stairs down. But nobody goes down alone. Understand?”

Bishop and Roxanne both nodded and went in separate directions.

“Marc, this isn’t the vision.”

“Is that such a surprise? You said yourself it had been changing all along. Maybe this is just the final version.”

“I guess. But if so much changed, or was symbolic and not literal, then are we still looking for a basement?”

He considered. “If I remember correctly, you said the only constants were that we all knew we were going down into a trap and that the building was falling in behind us.”

“Pretty much.”

“Sounds like a very final trap. Doom. Maybe that’s why it was all so…elaborate. The burning building, with smoke preventing you from being able to tell much about it. Going down into a basement to face a killer. Maybe it was only the signposts that mattered. Maybe the rest was just your mind conjuring the worst sort of trap it could imagine.”

Despite the closed stuffiness of the space around them, Dani shivered. “Maybe. I hate fire. Scares the hell out of me.”

“There you go, then.”

“Okay. But—”

“Listen.” He touched her cheek with his free hand. “I don’t want you to leave yourself open to any sort of attack, with this guy probably ready for us and lurking around somewhere, but can you forget about the vision for just a minute and feel what this building is telling you? Because it’s talking to me.”

As soon as she stopped trying to recall the vision, as soon as she let her mind go quiet, Dani heard the building loud and clear.

“Basement. There is a basement.”

“Yeah. With a cold and slimy monster as tenant.”

“Guys.” Roxanne appeared suddenly in a hallway to their left. “This way. Bishop’s found the stairs.”

In less than a minute they were there, looking down at welcoming lights.

“Well,” Dani said, “that’s the same. But why make a trap so obviously a trap? I would have expected something a lot more subtle from him.”

“Maybe that’s why he made it obvious,” Marc said. “Doesn’t really change anything, though.”

Dani nodded agreement. “I can feel Hollis now.”

“Is she—” Bishop stopped himself.

“She’s alive,” Dani said. “But…hurting. Let’s go.”

They went down the stairs very cautiously but at the bottom found only a central area from which stretched several long corridors with blank, featureless doors.

“Shit,” Dani whispered. “This does look familiar.” But not from her vision. From the dream walk with Paris and Hollis. Worse, there was too much iron and steel in this place, too many hard, reflective surfaces that could easily help channel and focus any kind of energy.

“Solitary?” Roxanne was tense, alert.

“Probably,” Marc said, and added, “We are
not
splitting up down here.”

Very familiar.

Dani felt herself move toward the middle corridor, following a pull so strong she was vaguely surprised not to see an actual rope stretched out before her. “This way. At the end, I think.”

“Dani, wait—”

But she was already three steps into the corridor, and even though Marc and the others followed quickly, she was well ahead of them and isolated by just enough space when they all saw her aura become not only visible but also begin to shimmer in a rainbow of colors.

“Dani—”

“I know,” she said. Her hands moved out to her sides, almost as if she explored an enclosure. “He’s coming after me. I’m just not sure…how he’s able to do this. I don’t hear his voice…the way I did before.” She drew a quick breath, and Marc saw her pale. “We have to get to Hollis. Now. I might be able to…keep him occupied…just long enough.”

He tried to get to her, but the aura surrounding her began to crackle and spark, and Marc quickly drew back his hand, afraid he would only hurt her more. “Move,” he said to the other two.

But Dani had no intention of waiting there and was already moving herself, slowly, carrying the live-energy cloud with her.

At first Marc thought the energy was draining her, but she turned her head slightly and sent him a quick, clear look, and he realized in that instant what she was doing.

“Make it a weapon.”

It was dangerous, what she was doing. Potentially deadly. Because a conduit could only accept and channel so much energy without being destroyed in the process.

He didn’t know where she was drawing the energy
from,
though he guessed it was the storm still feeding her, even this far underground. Clearly, she’d been right in believing this place would help contain energy.

Hell, maybe the bastard had chosen his trap well, knowing he could use it, having had the time these last weeks to test his little energy nexus.

Dani had no time for experiments or theories or practice. All she had was her instincts and desperation. All Marc had was the certainty that she was risking her life, and there wasn’t a damn thing he could do to stop it.

Bishop had managed to slip past Dani without disturbing her crackling aura, but when he reached the door, there was—nothing. No knob or handle, no lock, just a featureless expanse of solid steel.

He looked back at the others and shook his head grimly.

Nobody had brought anything with which to batter down a door, there was no lock to pick, and even hinges weren’t visible, much less accessible.

As she reached the end of the hallway, Dani said very quietly, “I’ll get the door. Just—move fast once I do. I don’t know what will happen if I—Just move fast.”

“Dani, for God’s sake, be careful,” Marc said, just as quietly. He thought he was braced for anything, but in the last few seconds, as the energy cloud intensified and she visibly gathered herself, he saw two of her inside that aura.

“Oh, Christ,” he said.

The sound was like an explosion. Was an explosion. A literal wave of pure raw energy surged forward from Dani with an eerie silence that made the thunderous
craa-aack!
of the door blowing inward all the more deafening.

Marc followed Bishop and Roxanne to the doorway of the room but not into it, remaining in the corridor, his arm around Dani as she sagged abruptly against him, all her energy spent.

What he saw was more than a little surprising, and from their frozen positions he knew the others were just as stunned by the scene that greeted them.

A very ordinary-looking man most anyone would have passed on the street without a glance cowered in the far corner of the room, what looked like a scalpel in his hand as he slashed wildly at the air around him, making guttural sounds that might have been rage—or terror. He appeared to be fighting, or attempting to defend himself, but whatever his weirdly flat, shiny eyes detected as a threat was invisible to the newcomers.