Dominic's Nemesis (38 page)

“What about the essence of a dead
person?”

“After a body dies, their essence no longer
inhabits the astral plane.” He admitted, knowing where the
conversation was headed. “I know what you
’
re thinking. I
still
should have
sensed
something
.”

“That
’
s your heart talking not your head.” Stephan
swiveled around to bore into him with amber eyes. “Consider, if the
entity is demonic or the spirit of a dead person then it follows
that you would not have seen it. The only reason I could was
because it disrupted the normal pattern of heat in the room.
Sometimes, particularly now that Eden dampens the wilder aspects of
my ability, I can sense you, and everyone around me, as a vision of
heat. It is like souls in the astral realm only I am sensing the
heat contained by each person in
this
realm. That night,
there was a pattern of heat in the room or rather an abnormal
pattern, devoid of heat. It couldn’t have been a person…not any
living person, anyway.”

Dominic absorbed the logic in his
brother
’
s words with a
heavy heart. Stephan was right of course. “
We need Cael
’
s input.” He should have completed his follow-up
interview by now. Dom was about to quit the room when Stephan
halted him.

“I
’
ll
go.
”

Dom ducked his head on the astral for the
briefest instant. “They
’
re in the library.” He called as his brother
reached the study
’
s
door.

* * *

“Will you stay with her while I speak with
Dominic?” Cael whispered.

“That was my intention.” Stephan returned his
hushed tone.

Eden reclined against the spongy cushions.
With arms spread out on the back lip of the couch, she watched the
two from across the hexagonal room. They probably thought they were
being discreet. She could hear them as if they were shouting. Even
if she hadn
’
t been able
too, she might just as easily have guessed what was said.

Ever the polite dandy, the mind doctor
excused himself, leaving her alone with the other one. The
Dangerous One. The sniveling twit she presently inhabited had
rightfully christened him “the Sphinx”. This one was perceptive,
with a cold shrewdness that made him the most difficult to read.
One thing she knew, he was not to be trifled with, not with that
ability of his. She
’
d
have to get rid of him, discredit him somehow.

He approached her with a volume in his hand.
“Shall we continue our reading, then?”

She waited until he stood just in front of
where she
’
d poised the
girl
’
s alluring body.
“Books are for bluestockings who are too dull to keep up their end
of a conversation. I never bother with them, having found a much
more pleasurable pursuit for my eyes…” Raking him over with a
predatory gaze, stopping deliberately at the junction of his
thighs. “…and my mouth. Would you like to join?”

His hard amber stare said he didn
’
t. She sensed from that look that
she wouldn
’
t have an
easy time with him.

He shifted his towering frame and sat on the
upholstered stool opposite the couch, as far from her as
possible.

“What have you done with Eden?” His voice was
deadly calm, his mien a wall of menace.

“
I
am the new, improved Eden.” She
purred in a soft seductive voice, pulling a slow hand through the
once blond tresses. Since the initial appearance of the wide raven
band at her temple, increasing strands had encroached, threading
the blonde with lustrous black.

“Know this. If you harm her again you will
suffer… a great deal. Dominic is not a violent man. I am.”

She let her hand fall from her hair to the
modest neckline of the gown, tugging recklessly at the delicate
lacing there. “What do you think he
’
ll do when he learns his trusted and beloved
brother attacked his helpless betrothed? Forcing himself on her
mercilessly.”

“Knowing Dom, he wouldn
’
t believe you but he’d disown me anyway to
save her from disgrace. Then, he
’
d spend the rest of his life torturing himself with
guilt and regrets.”

The fabric tore loose, exposing a creamy
swell of breast and the crisp white corset beneath. Next, she
kicked free of one slipper, and viciously scratched and banged the
second one against the wood floor until the heel broke from its
base.

“Care to wager?”

“Do not underestimate him. He will not be
fooled.”

“We shall see.”

The door opened and in strolled Cael. His
solemn manner spoke volumes.

“Bad news?” Dominic predicted.

“I
’
m afraid so.”

“Same here.”

“
Well,
let
’
s have yours
first then.”

Cael listened, his face intense and
thoughtful as Dominic relayed the particulars of his and
Stephan
’
s meeting with
the Reverend Martin ending with his previous conversation with
Stephan.

Cael remained silent at the end of his spiel.
Dom scanned him for a reaction, finding nothing but a rueful
expression, “Well?”

“Hmm…I’m not sure which is worse, your
news…or mine.”

“The interview?” Dom prompted again.

He sighed a long, telling breath. “It
differs…vastly, from my previous assessment. Her mood was erratic:
one minute hostile, the next aloof, and at times overly
affectionate. She would not answer direct questions, and I caught
her in several unsolicited lies.”

“What does all that mean?” He cringed,
dreading the answer to his own question.

Cael ran a hand through his hair, rucking up
the dark gold tuffs. “Dominic, if I had read a transcript of the
two sessions instead of conducting the assessments myself, there
would be no convincing me that they were describing the same
patient. This new Eden—” He paused, massaging his temples. “She is
indeed showing signs of mental distress as well as a significant
dissociation from reality.”

“Is she…?”

“There
are
several cognitive disorders
which could explain
some
of her behaviors.”

“So it is as I thought. Insanity.”

To Dominic’s utter surprise…and relief, Cael
shook his head. “Then, too, there is still the matter of the
visions, her affect on Stephan, and her ability to sense
you
. No, insanity is not my final consensus. It does not fit
her case. I have what I believe to be an answer to your question,
which ironically is not a solution to her problem.”

Dom exhaled the longest breath he’d ever held
in his life. Dread turned to hope. “What is it, then?! If not
insanity, what else could be causing—”

“Dominic, have you considered the possibility
that Eden is
adept
?” Cael posed the question in a quiet,
scientific voice. “That these strange happenings are the
manifestation of a gift she has not yet realized and the nature of
which is volatile…perhaps even dangerous. I think it is
that
stress on her psyche causing the instability and not some inherent
mental weakness. There is documented evidence that certain psychic
abilities put extra strains on the mind. I’ve…seen it myself, with
one of my patients…suspected it in several others.”

Dominic reeled at his brother’s words. The
thought had not occurred to him…so simple, so logical. The more he
considered it; the more it made sense. Her sensitivity to astral
travel, her uncanny ability to sense him when he was invisible, her
affinity for Stephan, the visions, not prophetic like
Gabriel
’
s, but certainly
of a psychic nature.

“Cael, you’re a genius. Stephan thinks she is
possessed by an evil spirit of some sort.”

“I think my theory more likely…and possibly
more hopeful than the alternative.” He held up the forgotten list.
“Spirit possession has no basis in scientific or medical fact…and
thus, no literature, no treatment options. We
know
that
adepts exist. Plus, she has displayed signs of an ability of some
sort.”

“Say, you’re right…what do you suggest?”

“First, I recommend postponing the
wedding-”

“No. Out of the question.” The wedding was
non-negotiable. “She is with child. I’ve seen a second essence
mingled with hers.”

Cael conceded without a fight. “Well, in that
case, I would recommend calling in someone with more expertise on
the subject. We don
’
t
even know the nature of her gift. We need someone who can help us
figure out exactly what we
’
re dealing with…as well as help her exercise some
level of control over whatever talent she has.”

Dominic knew of whom he spoke. “Greyson?”

Cael
nodded.
“We are out of options and I think we can both agree
her condition is worsening. Will you at least consider it?”

“Yes. I
’
ll consider it.” What other choice did he have?

* * *

“
You
won
’
t find a
letter opener or any other sharp or harmful object in that desk or
any other room on this floor. I suggested to Dominic after your
last ‘
accident
’
that it would be prudent to remove the apple from the Garden.”

“High and mighty bastard!” She sent the
drawer skidding across the floor, sending paper, and various knick
knacks flying in its wake. Her hair was deliberately messed, dress
torn to shreds, and her face splashed with water from the vase that
now lay upturned and cracked in a puddle of expanding liquid.

Seizing upon a leg of the desk, she snapped
it from its socket with little effort. The desk tittered
precariously like a spider trying to starve off the throws of
death. Her eyes narrowed upon the jagged trio of nails protruding
from the deep mahogany wood.

“I
’
m curious, what you plan to do with that.” He
impaled her with that prying gaze of his.

She threw him a serpent
’
s smile, flipping the wood so the
dangerous end aimed at the flat curve of her stomach exposed by the
torn corset and ruined dress. Let the Sphinx try to explain fresh
wounds on the demon
’
s
whore. With that delicious thought, she struck downward,
anticipating the pain that always came with victory. But it never
was. The three nails plopped to the floor. White-grey ash from
incinerated wood floated away on air, some landing on her
person.

“No matter.” She snatched up the nails only
to fling them down just as quickly, shrieking in pain.

“I will not allow you to harm my
brother
’
s fiancée.” He
aimed his gaze at the scorching hot nails, melting them down to a
silvery viscous liquid.

The evil was enraged. Eden could feel its
anger and hatred rushing through her quivering frame like a runaway
locomotive, engines dangerously close to overload. It began
shrieking, spitting out what sounded like angry curses in a tongue
she herself neither spoke nor understood. She launched them up from
the floor and across the room in a fantastic leap that rattled
Eden
’
s nerves. A minute
or so passed before she regained any awareness of the surroundings
and the entity
’
s
actions.

Since having the interloper
’
s will imposed on her mind and body,
she
’
d been having a
progressively more difficult time maintaining her own
consciousness. At times her essence seemed to be displaced to
another realm. A dark, hollow place where she saw nothing, heard
only echoes of silence, and was completely cut off from her
physical self. The realm rendered her unable even to listen in or
observe the entity
’
s
actions. Minutes sometimes hours passed before she returned to her
body. She knew because there were holes in her memory that
signified a ‘loss of time
’
.

She was just coming out of one such blackout,
trying to reorient herself when the smarting pains along her torso
hit her. She, or rather the entity was struggling, writhing and
shrieking beneath a great weight. Her wrists shackled wide apart by
that same weight pinning her squirming body to a cushioned
surface.

Stephan. He had a hold of her, restraining
her clawing hands, trying to still her as she thrashed about.
Although he was a sizeable man and physically strong, if not
overtly burly, it seemed to be a struggle for him to maintain his
hold on her.

That was how Dominic and Atherton found them:
tussling atop the ottoman.

“Stephan!”

The entity hyper-extended their neck in the
direction of the voice. Eden caught a distorted glimpse of Dom and
Atherton
’
s shocked
expressions. She screamed anew, a fearful note injected
deliberately by the entity. Likewise tears sprang to her eyes.

“Dom…” A pitiful whine.

Stephan relinquished his hold on her, owning
to her cease struggle. “Do not be deceived. She was attempting to
injure herself.”

Free of his hold, the entity staggered them
over to fling herself in Dominic
’
s waiting arms. “He-e-e-e…attacked me. I
couldn
’
t get away.”

“She attacked herself.”

“And that necessitated such force holding her
down?” Dominic couldn
’
t
help but be skeptical. It was ludicrous to think the slight woman
trembling in his arms would require such maneuvers to restrain. But
he was reminded of her relative ease in flipping him over not two
days before.