Yes,
Belial whispered to him.
Yes, you will punish them, and then they’ll be sorry they didn’t listen. I will be very pleased.
“There will be blood,” he said.
Yes
, Belial answered.
A lot of blood.
MARLA sat at the kitchen table, Luke across from her.
Since there was no furniture in the tiny living room, this was the only inside place where they could sit. She was completely sober—unfortunately—despite the second beer. Thoughts of tracking a soulless bomber who murdered children had killed any buzz.
“When we put our hands together in the traditional form, the chakra energies will initiate.” Luke placed his hands palm up on the table. Taking a deep breath, she followed suit.
“The energies will come fast and hard, and they’ll move upward through you,” he continued. “You may feel burning sensations or pressure, and definitely sexual desire. It will feel like your body is rocking really hard, but that’s just a sensation caused by the energies. You’ll probably see images flashing by. You might see colors, and hear sounds, too. Don’t let it throw you. You don’t have to do anything but hold on, and let the energies flow. Whatever happens, don’t let go of my hands. That will break the link.”
Oh, boy, she could hardly wait to do this.
“First we’ll set up some protection.” Luke tugged the chain around his neck, pulling the pink stone from beneath his shirt.
At the shack, Marla had been too disoriented to question him about it, but now she asked, “What is that?”
“It’s pink quartz, the same material that makes up the great Tuaoi stone that was on Atlantis.” He cupped the pendant in his hand, leaned forward so she could see it better. It was a smooth pink oval, with silver wire woven intricately around its outer edges. “It’s tuned to the Tuaoi stone, and to my own vibratory levels. It helps shield me and also amplifies my psychic abilities.”
“But if Atlantis was destroyed thousands of years ago, and this great Ta-Taw-whatever-stone was there, how can your pendant be tuned to it?”
“The Tuaoi stone wasn’t destroyed. It’s buried deep in the Atlantic Ocean, but it still puts off energy.”
“That can’t be good. It seems to me that if Belians got hold of the stone, it would—”
“Be disastrous,” Luke finished for her. “That’s why the Sanctioned keep a close watch on all deep-sea expeditions off the eastern coastline of the U.S., as well as off the Bahamas.”
“One more thing to worry about,” she muttered.
“Let me do the worrying. All you have to do is be a conduit for me.” Folding his fingers over the stone, Luke sat back and closed his eyes. He spoke in that beautiful flowing language again, his voice low and rich.
She felt the movement of the air around them, felt the flow of warmth and even thought the light grew brighter. “That should do it.” He dropped the pendant and reached for her. “Take my hands. Your left palm should be facing up and your right palm facing down.”
He showed her, turning his left palm up so that it cupped her right palm, and reversing the position with their other hands. Then he tightened his grip, keeping them firmly linked. “Whatever happens,” he repeated, “don’t let go.”
She felt the energy immediately, a stirring deep in her womb. Before she could analyze it, it shot upward into her abdomen in a heated rush. She jolted forward with a gasp.
“It’s okay. That’s just the first chakra opening.”
The burning poured through her abdomen, and dampness pooled between her legs. Need, desire, hot and intense, fired through her. She clamped her legs together, forced back a moan. The pressure moved upward, and her belly button felt like it was bulging outward.
“Second chakra opening,” Luke murmured. “Stay with me, Marla.”
Just the second one?
She gasped again as she experienced a sensation similar to being punched in the rib cage . . . like when William Bennett had hit her when she tried to defend Julia . . . No time to complete that thought as she heard an audible “pop” and felt the burning in her chest. A green haze filled her vision. She struggled to draw a breath, tried to jerk free.
“Whoa! Everything’s fine. Just relax and breathe. Take a deep breath. That’s right.” Luke’s low, soothing voice helped keep her from totally losing it. “Third and fourth chakras are open. Hang in there, Marla. We’re through the lower levels.”
She didn’t know if she could survive three more chakras. Her body felt as if it were a stringed puppet being viciously jerked around. And still, she felt the clawing sexual need. Yearned for,
craved
having a man—not just any man, but Luke—inside her. Filling her, pounding her senseless, giving her the release she desperately needed.
Her throat tightened, closing off as the burn flooded it. Her breath was obstructed! She gave a strangled cry.
“No . . . no,” Luke said. “Don’t fight it. It’s okay. Just relax and breathe through it. That’s the fifth chakra.”
Relax? He was crazy if he thought she could—A blinding starburst of indigo light exploded around her like a flash bulb, and sharp pain speared through the top of her head. She cried out again, gripping Luke’s hands like they were lifelines.
“Hold on. Just hold on, Marla. Almost there. That’s the sixth chakra, which links to the third eye. I’m starting to see things . . .” His voice trailed off, and she understood why.
Pictures. Stark, disturbing images, flashed through her mind in rapid succession, too fast to really process. Another burst of light, this one violet, and electricity tingled in the middle of her forehead. She struggled, tried to rise, but the energies slammed her back down.
Then they began shooting up and down her spine, rocking her forward and back. Her eyes clenched shut. A color light show started behind her eyelids: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, shades of purple and violet. Flashing and merging together, only to separate and merge again. More images were interspersed between the colors: a blur of hands putting something together with wires and electronic components, a school bus, an awful explosion, smoke, blood . . . So much blood . . . and body parts.
She heard things: children screaming, the appalled murmurs of emergency crews, and a flat-toned voice, soft and asexual, saying, “The unjust, the wicked, shall be punished. Praised be Belial, and praised be the blood.” And she heard unearthly howling.
But worse, far worse, were the emotions bombarding her. Fear and terror, horror and disbelief, overwhelming grief. The darkness and depravity of the monster watching. Of its smugness, its utter lack of humanity. It beat at her, not quite as oppressive as it had been at the shack, but still pressing against her. “No!” She struggled hard now, managed to wrench one hand free. “I can’t do this!”
“Marla!”
“Oh God, oh God. Luke, let me go. It’s touching me again. I can feel it.”
He released her. She twisted up and around, knocking the chair over and tangling with it as it went down. She hit the floor hard. He was there before she could push herself up. He lifted the chair off her and shoved it away. “Are you all right?”
She came to her knees and wrapped her arms around herself. “I don’t know. Oh God. I saw it. I saw the school bus explode, saw what was left of those children. And I could feel it. I could feel
everything
. The children’s terror, their parents’ grief, and that—that
thing
. It was gloating over their deaths.
Nausea rolled through her, and she tried to get to her feet. “I feel sick.”
He swept her into his arms and stood. “To the bathroom?”
She wanted away from the darkness still swirling around them. “No . . . outside. Please.”
In seconds, the sun was bright in her eyes. She lifted her face to the light, drew in a deep shuddering breath. Blew it out. “God.”
“Yeah. I know. It can be bad. How’s your stomach?”
She took another breath, felt the churning calm a little. “Better. You can put me down now.”
Instead, he strode over to the rusted metal loveseat and sat down, cradling her against him. Surprised, but grateful for the comfort he offered, she curled into him, letting his warmth and scent chase away the stench of evil. She hated being weak, but right now she needed Luke’s solid strength.
He settled back, tightening his arms around her. “Just try to give me a little warning if you’re going to hurl.”
“I think I’ll be okay.” But she wasn’t. She started shaking violently and despite the moderate temperatures, felt chilled to the bone. She tried to will her body to calm. “I-I don’t know why I c-can’t stop shaking,” she managed.
“It’s shock. Here.” Luke took her hand, brought it up to his chest. “Hold on to this.” He pressed the crystal into her hand, wrapped his own hand around hers and the pendant.
She felt power, but it was a calming flow that steadied her. She “saw,” on some inner level, the light surrounding them. Again felt Luke’s presence around and within her, and the evil being drawn away.
The shaking eased, and her heart began to slow. The sense of darkness receded, although there was still that sick feeling she sometimes got after a nightmare. She sagged against him, wishing this really was a nightmare. But it was worse, far worse, because it was real.
“I don’t know if I can do this again,” she said, wondering how he could do it on a regular basis.
He rested his cheek against her hair. “You can. I know it’s hard, but you’re strong, Marla. I don’t think you realize how amazing you are.”
She felt the loveseat jolt, saw Bryony had jumped up next to them. The dog whined and pressed against them; didn’t even growl at Luke. “Look at her. She can sense the evil, too.”
“Sure she can. Didn’t you hear her howling out here?”
She pushed back to look up at him. “That was her? I heard howling, but didn’t realize it was Bryony.”
He nodded, his eyes dark and serious. “It was her. She must have tapped into the conduction. Psycho dog is also psychic dog. Who knew?”
That evoked a small laugh. “Well . . . yeah. I didn’t know. She always barks at sirens and some motorcycles—those high-pitched ones. But I’ve never heard her howl before.”
The brief moment of levity slipped away, leaving the dark haunting images. Now that her stomach and the shaking had settled, she was left with a killer headache and a still-raging libido. Her breasts were swollen and aching, and her lower body was just as sensitized.
If the hardness pressing against her bottom was any indication, Luke had the same problem in the libido department. Of course, their close proximity to one another wasn’t helping matters. She rubbed her forehead.
“Let me work on that.” He brushed away her hand, splayed his fingers across her forehead. “Nonchanneled conduction energy usually results in a bad headache, among other things.”
Heat tingled from his fingers into her head, and the pain eased. “That feels good,” she said, for once having no objection to him using his powers. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do about the other problem. Not without taking care of it the old fashioned way.”
She smiled at his wry tone, and resigned herself to her turned-on state. He was probably more uncomfortable than she was. “So it always comes back to sex.”
“In this case, yes. But sex as a solution is generally a guy thing, anyway.”
And he was definitely a guy. If she was ever ready to explore that realm, he’d be a great candidate. But for now, there were more pressing matters. She stared up at him. “Would the conduction have been stronger if we’d had sex?”
“Yes. The results would definitely have been more intense.”
Great.
She drew back. “I’d like to get up now.”
He let her go, his gaze watchful as she stood and found her balance. Her legs were shaky, her stomach still queasy, but she was functional. She found her way to another chair, sank into it. The physical distance eased the sexual cravings—a little.
“Luke, I don’t think I could have handled more intense. It was . . . pretty bad. You saw my reaction.”
“It’s tough, especially since you could feel the emotions of the victims and their families. It worries me that the shielding didn’t seem to block the Belian.”
“I think it helped. I didn’t feel it quite as strongly as I did yesterday. But I was still able to feel the Belian.” Still chilled, she drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.
“Marla, I want you to know, and to believe, that I will never let that Belian get near you. It would have to go through me first. And that’s not going to happen. It’s my job to protect innocents from Belians. I take it very seriously.”
He didn’t say it, but she suspected he would give his life, if necessary, in the performance of his job. It was a very sobering realization. “I do believe you. It’s just that he felt so real, like he was in the room with us.”
“
It.
The Belian is an
it
. Don’t ever mistake it for a real person. And it’s possible that it sensed us. The initial sexual surge is difficult to shield. Then you were able to connect with the Belian, despite what shielding we did have. This is a very powerful Belian we’re up against.” He studied Marla, his expression thoughtful. “Have you been empathic all your life?”
She didn’t want to consider herself empathic at all—just sensitive. Nor did she want to tell him what had triggered that sensitivity. She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about that. I want you to explain exactly what happened during the conduction, and how it will help us catch this monster.”
His lips thinned, and she could tell he wasn’t happy with her refusal to answer his questions. But he didn’t push her. “All right. We’ll talk about the conduction, then. Once the sixth chakra opened, it engaged my third eye, which is the psychic center. Your energies acted like a magnifier for the patterns I’d already picked up from the BCS. Our combined energies created the flash of images, which are like clues.”
