Touched by Darkness (14 page)

sandalwood blend that permeated his duster. He

smelled enticing, probably a side effect of the

sexual energies swirling between them. There were

definite disadvantages to heightened awareness and

senses, she decided.

"No unpleasant smells," she said, shaking off her

wayward thoughts.

"Another indication this being was benign. Did you

hear anything?"

He was instructing her, she realized, broadening her

knowledge of supernatural occurrences, something

Richard had never done. "Yes. I heard a faint

buzzing sound—not like a bug, but almost like the

sizzle of electricity."

"A good description. That was the sound the

entity's movements created."

"But you said it's gone. How could I hear it?"

"From the residual energy left by the sound. What

you just saw and heard was facilitated by a psychic

vision."

She had to think about that.
"Your
psychic vision?"

she gasped, as comprehension dawned. "I was

seeing
what you see
when you're following a

psychic trail?"

Approval flashed in his eyes. "Right. Our energy

link allowed you to see my vision."

"Amazing," she murmured. She'd never gone with

Richard on one of his preliminary tracking

sessions, where he gathered initial data from a

BCS, the Sentinel term for a Belian crime scene.

She'd only participated in the conductions that

followed later, and could be done from any

location, using the initial psychic signature of the

Belian that Richard had extracted from the crime

scene, and stored in his own psyche.

"I wanted you to see and hear what I did," Damien

explained. "I think you can learn to do this on your

own, and it will help you if the entity comes back."

"But I don't have Sentinel abilities."

"No, but I suspect your psychic abilities are very

strong—or would be if you didn't repress them."

She didn't want to dwell on abilities she considered

a curse; she was far more concerned about the

ghost. "Do you think that thing will come back?"

He shrugged. "I have no idea. I don't know why it

was here in the first place. I suspect it was drawn

here."

Kara felt a sinking sensation. "By Alex?"

"Most likely. Why don't we find out?"

Shaken, she followed him to the kitchen. Luz, bless

her, had Alex working on his homework at the table

while she started dinner. Kara smelled chicken

baking, saw the makings of a fresh salad in the

large glass bowl on the counter.

Luz eyed Damien with animosity as they entered

the kitchen. "Are you going to require me here

much longer?" she asked Kara. "I need to leave."

"I know we've kept you late again. I'm so sorry,

Luz." Kara looked at Damien. "Any reason she

can't go?"

He leaned against the door frame, studying Luz.

"Just a few questions. If you don't mind."

Sullenly, Luz picked up a tomato and a knife.

"What do you want to know?"

"Do you work much with spirits?"

She shook her head, sliced the tomato with more

force than necessary. "No. I deliver babies,

compound herbs."

"But you believe in them," Damien persisted.

Alex, who had abandoned all pretense of doing his

homework, darted his gaze between Luz and

Damien. Kara went to sit next to him and put an

arm around him. If the questioning got much

scarier, she'd take him out of the kitchen.

"Of course I believe in them!" Luz snapped, with

another
thwack
of the knife.

"Do you ever come across evil spirits?"

"A few. But the evil spirits I see are those that cause

illness, bad luck, or a man's
pene
to shrivel up."

Luz stared meaningfully at Damien's crotch.

"Sometimes it is deserved."

"Mom," Alex said in a loud whisper, "do you think

she's talking about his pe—"

Kara clamped her hand over his mouth. "Shhh. You

are interrupting. I'll tell you later."

"But I have never seen
un espíritu
show up from

nowhere to torment a little boy." Luz waved the

knife in the air. "Not until you came." She tossed

the mangled tomato into the salad.

"I've been accused of worse." Damien crossed his

arms over his chest. "Did you sense anything truly

evil in Alex's room today?"

Luz considered, finally looked at Damien. With a

sigh, she shook her head. "No. I'm not certain it

was evil. I did not sense
el Diablo.
But it was wild

—throwing books across the room." She made the

sign of the cross. "I'd never seen such a thing. My

little man was so scared,
me asustó."
She looked at

Kara and Alex. "I'm sorry if I overreacted."

"I'd have done the same thing." Kara tightened her

arm around Alex. "It must have been very scary."

"
Sí
." Luz wiped her hands on her apron and untied

it. "If you are finished with your questions, I really

must go." She dropped a kiss on top of Alex's head

and murmured to him in Spanish. Damien stepped

aside as she swept past him.

"Good night, Luz. Thank you for everything," Kara

called after her.

As they heard the sound of the front door closing

behind Luz, Damien settled into the chair on the

other side of Alex. He tapped the paper lying on the

table. "What are you working on there?"

"Just some homework," Alex muttered.

"Looks like math. Aren't you too young to be doing

that?"

Alex raised his chin. "I'm in first grade. We've been

doing addition and subtraction since November."

"That soon, huh? I guess kids start on the hard

subjects at a younger age these days."

"Math is easy," Alex informed him. "But health is

boring." He shot a glance at Kara. "Sorry, Mom,

but it is."

"I didn't like it, either," Damien sympathized. "Why

don't you tell me what you did today to draw that

discarnate?"

Kara felt Alex tense, saw his chin quiver, a sure

sign he'd been up to something. "What's a dis-car-

nate?" he asked. She knew he was stalling.

"It's another word for ghost." Damien leaned

forward, his gaze intent. "What did you do to call

it?"

Alex stared down at his homework. "Nothing."

"Alex," Kara said in a warning tone.

"Nothing much." He raised his head and looked at

her. "I was just playing with... things."

What had her son done? She felt herself starting up

the roller coaster slope again, driven by returning

panic. "What things?" she demanded.

"Just thoughts, just... moving some stuff around."

"With your mind?" Damien interjected.

Alex nodded mutely.

"But Mr. Morgan and I told you not to do that!"

Kara forced herself to speak calmly, although fear

churned inside her. "He explained this to you last

night. You promised you wouldn't use your

powers."

Tears welled up in Alex's eyes. "I know, Mom, I

know," he said, his voice wobbling. "And I kept my

thoughts in the box all day at school, just like Mr.

Morgan showed me." He sniffled. "I waited until I

got home and I was alone in my room. I only

wanted to 'speriment, to see what I could do." The

tears overflowed, and tracked down his cheeks. "I

would never have done anything outside the house.

Honest!"

Kara knew she was too upset to speak calmly and

rationally right now. She shoved away from the

table, and strode over to stare out the back door

window, willing herself to calm down. The sun had

set, and it was gray outside, not yet fully dark. She

vaguely heard Max barking in a far corner of the

yard.

"Alex," came Damien's calm voice from behind

her. "Tell me what you were doing, and what

happened after that."

"Well.. ." Alex paused, and Kara could tell he was

reluctant to tell Damien, probably afraid he was

going to be punished.

"Tell Mr. Morgan what he wants to know," she said,

turning from the door. "I won't get mad again."

"Okay. I was just playing around with moving

stuff."

Damien leaned closer. "Tell me what you can do."

Alex's eyes lit up. "I can move lots of stuff. I look

at something and imagine it in another spot. Like I

'drove' my model car across my desk without

touchin' it. I made my book slide over to me. I

moved my shoe and scared Max. It was really

frigid!" He looked at Kara, seemed to belatedly

remember their earlier conversations. He looked

down at the table. "Sorry, Mom."

She didn't need the cool warning glance Damien

shot her to remind her not to overreact. "Just tell us

everything, son."

"Well." He fiddled with his pencil. "I was trying to

shoot my thoughts to the tree outside my window

to see if I could move the branches from inside the

house."

"Did it work?" Damien asked.

Alex brightened. "Yeah! It was iced. So I kept doin'

it for a while."

Kara walked to the table and sat down. She felt

utterly drained. Why had she thought a six-year-old

boy would be able to resist the lure of such powers?

"What happened then?" Damien pressed.

"I don't know." Alex looked at him with big eyes. "I

was just watching the tree limbs shaking back and

forth, and all at once, a book went flying off my

shelf. It was lots faster than I could have moved it.

Then my poster fell down, and my soccer award

things started turning on the walls. Max went crazy

and barked at lot. It was freaky."

"Did you see or hear anything?"

"I didn't see a form or a white blob, or anything like

that. But I kept hearing a noise, like whispering.

Like something was trying to talk to me."

"What did it say?"

"I don't know," Alex's voice dropped to a whisper.

"I was too scared to listen. But it felt—" he

hesitated.

"What did it feel like?" Damien urged.

"It felt like it was real excited or stirred up—like

Max is when he sees you."

"Kind of upset?" Kara suggested.

"Yeah. That's it." Alex nodded solemnly. "The

ghost was upset, maybe frightened. Only ghosts

don't get frightened, do they?"

"I think ghosts can have the same feelings they had

when they were alive," Damien told him.

Alex considered that. "Will it come back?"

"Probably not if you don't use your mind to move

objects. That's most likely what attracted its

attention."

"Oh." Alex's lower lip trembled. "Mom told me it

was bad to move things or try to do any stuff with

my mind."

"It can be bad, if you don't know how to properly

control your powers or shield yourself. But we're

working on the shielding, aren't we?" Damien gave

Alex's shoulder a reassuring squeeze. "I know you

didn't mean to draw it here."

Damien was good at that, Kara thought, knowing

when it was appropriate to touch, when to offer

physical comfort. He was a strange, dual

combination of arrogance and sensitivity. But then,

the Sentinel nature was chameleon like and crafty, a

necessity in dealing with both humans and Belians.

"How do I control my powers?" Alex asked.

Damien looked at Kara, his steely gaze locking

with hers. "That's something else we're going to

work on. But right now, I need to talk to your

mother."

Kara knew she wouldn't have any valid arguments,

or be able to counter his demands to work with

Alex on his powers this time.

#

I picked up another energy surge this afternoon,

stronger than the previous ones. As before, it was

not the pattern of a full-fledged Sentinel. It

certainly wasn't the other unknown Sentinel, may

Belial curse his soul. But the power was there, and

it came from the general vicinity of Virginia

Avenue. And there was that energy spike yesterday,

at the school. Interesting...

It appears we do indeed have a fledgling Sentinel

in this backwash town. While my power is growing,

I am limited by this pitiful shell of a body that I

must endure. A fledgling would provide me with

more power, and then I could get a new body.

Belial will make it so.

Until then, I must have more energy. It is time to

claim my next victim and shake up that Light

spawn Sentinel. I will make my move tonight, and