Eyes to the Soul (35 page)

“You are.” He reached over and grasped her hand. “You had a horrible shock. A terrible loss. It’s a natural response to want to lash out at others who appeared to have escaped unscathed.”

“Unscathed? I wonder. Do they blame themselves for my condition? I never once considered how they felt. I only let Gordon and Jillian back into my life a few months after the accident. I apologized then and we all made up. Since then I’ve just kept everyone else more or less away. Jacob being my closest friend – mostly because he refused to stay away.”

“And he’s safe because he has a male partner and is super busy so he didn’t demand any more of your time than you were willing to give.”

Stefan wondered what else he should tell her. He was hoping to take their relationship to the next level, but didn’t think she’d appreciate hearing some hard truths from him afterwards, and it would erase all the good he’d managed up to now. But to share them with her now… yeah, she might never speak to him again. Then again, as he had no intention of letting her go home tonight after what Brandt had said. She was likely to be pretty angry. Either way he was going to be sleeping alone.

“And this is why you have no friends.” She laughed. “Sorry, that just came out. It’s a phrase from my childhood. But you are right. My life is stuffed to the brim and my way of coping was to keep people away.”

“Sorry, I do tend to speak in truths.”

“No, that’s fine.” She gave him a wry smile. “I prefer the truth over the alternatives. And speaking of the truth, please tell me more about the cases and how I might be connected.”

As they needed to discuss this he willingly complied. “We don’t know for sure, but at the moment I see the same black energy around that blockage in your head as I have around a child, Eric, who’s dealing with a monster in his head, and several males in the morgue that for one reason or another are dead and managed to take out other people with them.”

“Take out – how do you mean?”

“One drove his vehicle into a crowded pub a few nights ago.”

“Chico’s!”

“And another picked up a butcher knife and started slashing and butchering a group of women waiting to cross the road.”

“Oh my God. What? You’re saying the accident at Chico’s is related to these poor women? I understand the connection from my attacker and Chico’s, but how could he have a hand in that slashing incident?”

“He somehow managed to get the driver of that vehicle to crash into the pub and if he could do that, then it wouldn’t likely be hard for him to have this other man pick up a butcher knife and starting slashing that way.”

“But why?”

Stefan shook his head. “That I don’t have an answer for.”

“How?”

“I don’t know that either.”

Those silvery eyes stared toward him. “He’d have to have a way to connect to these people. Like he does me.”

“True. That’s why I wondered about the details of your accident.”

“Are you thinking possession here? That he might have slipped into my body while I was at my weakest?”

“Or slipped into the weakest part of you at that time – your eyes.”

She reared back and swallowed hard. “That’s…very disturbing.”

“Yes,” he said. “It is.”

“So he’d have had to have found a way to enter all these people while they were weak and then taken over when he wanted to and killed them – and in the process, killing others?”

“Quite possibly.”

She shuddered. “I’m not sure I can do this. I need sleep tonight. How can I ever sleep again if this guy could turn me into a mass killer?”

“He won’t.” Stefan’s voice was strong, adamant.

She didn’t look convinced. “But you won’t know until it happens, will you?” she said bitterly. “I could kill you in my sleep and you’d only wake up if the first blow didn’t finish the job. Oh my God.” She stared at him in horror. “Everyone around me is in danger.”

“No, they aren’t, and I’m not going to let this guy take over your body, nor am I going to let you go off under his manipulations and kill anyone.”

“I hate to say this, Stefan,” she said, her voice doubtful. “You might be God to some people, but I don’t think this guy cares.”

Stefan laughed. “He doesn’t. And that’s another weakness I’ll be able to use against him.”

She leaned forward. “This is in my head. It’s not like you can reach a hand inside and pull him out.”

“True enough, but only because I’m concerned about the kind of harm he might cause you if I were to try to do that.”

He shifted and spoke inside her mind.
I’m in your mind right now. Right where he is. I can see the blockage in front of me. But force is not the answer here. Knowledge is.
And he stepped back out of her mind.

She sank back into the chair, the back of her hand pressed against her mouth.

“I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Uh oh.” Stefan reached through her root chakra and quickly drained much of the energy churning violently and threatening to spill over.

She sat up and took a deep breath. “Thank you.” She shook her head. “I think I need to go home now. Please.”

“And that’s where the next problem comes in.” He winced. “I’m keeping you here until this is over.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of the chair. A long shaky breath escaped.

“And when will that be?” she whispered. “When we’re both dead?”

*

Vanessa Coller dressed
carefully for the evening. Her first formal affair since the disaster in her life so long ago. She really loved Jhett. He was perfect for her. Twirling in front of the full-length mirror, she felt like a princess.

She spread her fingers and could almost see the diamond ring on her hand. Surely he’d ask her tonight? She twirled one more time then headed for the small makeup mirror in the bathroom. Everything had to be just right for tonight. He’d love her no matter how she looked and she was content with that, but she wanted him to be proud to be escorting her now. She looked so different after all her skin grafts and the months and months of healing. Sure, there’d been the odd weird heated twinge in her back lately, more a sense of something ready to flare, but thankfully never did.

She’d come so far…surely one more step wasn’t impossible.

Tonight was that next step.

She bent over and worked on the eye shadow, her hand sure and steady. An inner calm had settled inside. She knew how to apply makeup to hide the worst of the scars. She could do this tonight. As she worked, the calm slowly broke apart from the façade it really was. She had been through a year of hell. A year of surgery after surgery. A year of needing help and helpers, of crying in pain and feeling bad for being in pain. She hated to ask for help, and this last year had pushed the limits time and time again. Bowing her head, she considered the huge ballroom formal tonight. A work event for Jhett, and afterwards he was taking her to the small exclusive dining room on the other side of the hotel. That’s where he’d ask her to marry him.

At least she hoped.

*

Sam wandered the
lakeshore, loving the way the sun twinkled on the water. She’d come to love this place. Knowing it was theirs now forever made her heart swell in delight.

She stood there for a long moment and let the feelings wash over her.

And felt joy, someone else’s joy, fill her. Or she filled someone else with joy? Quietly she let her mind shut down and her energy float as needed. She was humming. The wedding march. Sam would have laughed, but she was too full of happiness to do anything. This young woman was getting ready for an event – a special night. She splayed her fingers wide and Sam could see they were bare of rings and she understood.

But why was Sam here?

And could she get something to identify this woman and save her before her world exploded in pain?

She sank deeper into the vision. Letting her senses flow through the young woman, searching out the burning she knew would come.

She drifted down then spread out through the limbs. She couldn’t sense anything but a woman in the prime of her life getting ready to go out for a special evening.

Her back tingled. She stilled.

Here was the problem.

And the heat was just starting. Now if only she could get something to identify this woman and save her.

C
elina wanted another
chance to see Stefan’s face clearly. He sat on the edge of her mind the whole time he spoke. The words flowing over her. She had that one time to refer to, but having still been in shock, she hadn’t been able to get such a clear look. Like black and white photo shoots, the highlights of his face had been unbelievably beautiful. With stunning cheekbones, wavy hair slightly on the long side – and damn if she didn’t want to slide her fingers through it again. His eyes, a little bit of wild still in there. He’d tempered his personality, his abilities to look civilized on the surface, but something untamed, observing the outside world with a hint of …mockery perhaps…lived inside.

What he could see must give him a tainted view of the rest of the world. He lived in this world as a master, having cornered the fears and insecurities at least to the point that no one else would know what lurked on the inside. He’d carved a place for himself in society where he was looked upon with respect. So many others in his world were classed as charlatans and shysters. Stefan would never worry about others’ opinion of him, as he’d found that center inside that said he was fine just the way he was.

She hadn’t made it as far. It reminded her of her growing years, that “pleaser” personality so others would remain her friends. So she wouldn’t have to lose anymore. So she wouldn’t have to be alone.

She sighed.

“That was awfully heavy,” he said quietly at her side. He’d moved the two of them to a wide lounge chair out on the deck. The sun was still high on the left, but there was little heat to it. She could feel a cool breeze running up the property and she just knew he couldn’t see another house around. Whether there were trees or he just owned several acres, she understood that privacy was his solace and he’d control this space and protect it against any invasion on any level.

“I was just considering the penalty of trying to see in that world again.”

“Too high,” he said immediately.

“I want to see your face again,” she murmured, a small smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

“You did once.”

“Only for a brief second,” she retorted. “When I was too shocked to take much in.”

“We can’t take the chance.”

She wondered about that. Surely there had to be a way. She’d been able to see that way and see brilliantly with him. She wanted to see that way again.

“And why does it matter?” he asked curiously. “You don’t see any other faces. So why mine?”

“Because you matter.” The words hung between them. She wished she’d waited until she’d had a chance to see his face, to gauge his reaction. But that could be a long time, according to him. And she didn’t want to waste time. If Stefan left as suddenly as he’d arrived, she wanted to make sure she experienced everything he had to offer first.