Touched by Darkness (19 page)

while she calmed and fed Alex, and got him ready

for bed. Damien returned in time to send boy and

dog into a deep slumber, assuring her they wouldn't

awaken during the conduction.

Now he stood there, waiting for her, the unspoken

expectation hanging between them like a pending

execution. He was dressed differently tonight. She

had been surprised to see him in full business attire

when he'd shed his duster earlier—an expensively

cut black suit that made him look even bigger, his

shoulders even wider. With it, he wore a white shirt

and blood-red tie. He told her he had some official

business earlier in Fredericksburg, and sometimes

his work required a suit.

He'd removed the suit coat and the tie, and rolled

up the sleeves, exposing strong muscular forearms.

With his dark skin and five'o-clock shadow, and his

midnight hair flowing freely about his shoulders, he

looked like a modern-day pirate, threatening on

many levels she didn't want to probe. It didn't help

that he'd returned from Doris's house radiating

excess psychic energy that jangled her already taut

nerves.

"Ready?" he asked.

She was mentally and physically exhausted. There

was a gaping hole in her heart, created by the loss

of a friend she couldn't yet properly mourn. Instead,

she had to hold it together for her son, subject

herself to the trauma of a conduction, and at the

same time maintain her dignity in front of this

Sentinel. "Hell no, I'm not ready," she muttered.

He held out his hand. "Come on."

Willing her hand to remain steady, she placed it in

his, felt the tingle of electricity.

"Alex's room?" he asked.

"No," she said firmly, although a bed was the

standard setting for a conduction—along with

tangled sheets and nude, writhing bodies. But she

refused to cross those boundaries. "The living

room."

His brow arched at that, but he said nothing as they

walked to the main room and over to the couch.

"Sit here." He indicated one end of the couch and

pulled the overstuffed chair around to face it. "I'll

take the chair."

They seated themselves, adjusting furniture so they

fully faced one another. He scooted the chair

forward until his knees touched the couch, with her

legs sandwiched between his thighs, far too close

for comfort. Her heart was jumping like a panicked

frog in a net, and memories of Richard crowded

into her mind. She shoved them away, stared into

Damien's mesmerizing silvery gaze.

"No intimacy," she said again. "No unnecessary

touching."

"So we agreed." He reached toward her, pausing

when she flinched involuntarily. "Kara, we have to

touch
some."

She felt like the naive, starry-eyed high school girl

she'd once been, too shy and intimidated to say

hello to the football quarterback on whom she'd had

a huge crush.
This is ridiculous,
she told herself.

"I know." She wiped her palms on her sweatpants

(the most coverage she could find) and held out

both hands.

He took them, turning her left palm faceup and

placing his right palm down against it. Then he

turned his left hand faceup against her right hand,

completing the familiar, standard position for

opening energy pathways between Sentinel and

conductor. Leaning forward, he shifted their

pressed-together hands to rest on her thighs. He

inhaled deeply, exhaled; she knew he was centering

himself and creating protective shields.

Already, without any other initiation, she could feel

the flow of psychic energy beginning to cycle

through their hands. She couldn't believe that just a

simple physical link could initiate the energy. Good

thing she'd kept her bra on and donned a thick

sweatshirt, because her nipples were already

painful nubs. She felt another flare of panic, caught

her breath.

"Easy now," he murmured. "Close your eyes and

breathe through it."

Simple for him to say. She closed her eyes,

managed a few deep breaths. The energy began

pooling in her groin, quickly heating to an urgency

that spread like fingers across her abdomen. On an

intellectual level, she understood it was just the

base chakra activating and expanding; this chakra

controlled ovaries/gonads and reproduction and

therefore sexual urges. But on a visceral level, it

was an awakening of desire.

With astonishing speed, the energy cycled upward

to just below her belly button, bursting through the

second chakra, setting her abdomen aflame. With it

came the sexual surge, creating a physical need so

violent, she had to clamp her thighs together to

keep from crying out. The energies were rising fast,

much faster than she remembered with Richard.

She struggled for air, unable to assimilate the

overwhelming rush of energy.

"Breathe!" Damien commanded. "Just breathe and

go with the flow."

The third chakra opened with an audible pop,

energy pouring through her lower rib cage. "Too

fast," she gasped. It had been too long since she'd

done this.... "I can't do it."

"Let go, Kara. Let it carry you along."

"I can't—" She was vaguely aware that she had her

fingers wrapped around his hands, that he had

pressed his legs tightly against her thighs... it was

too much.

"You don't have to do anything. Just hold on, go

with the current." His voice was like steel, a

command she was helpless to ignore. She felt

tossed like a buoy in a stormy sea.

Another pop, and green filled her field of vision.

Warmth flooded her fourth chakra, spread through

her chest.

"We're through the lower chakras now," he said,

sounding calm and impassive. "All you have to do

is hang on." He meant that symbolically, but her

fingers convulsed around his hands, desperately

seeking an anchor. She felt his fingers curl around

hers in return, felt the solidness of his grasp. "It's

all right," his deep voice soothed. "Keep

breathing."

The pressure eased somewhat, but her throat

burned as the energy moved into the fifth chakra,

the first of the higher three centers. They were in

the Sentinel realm now, in the spiritual chakras that

facilitated links with God and with the super-

consciousness many referred to as the Universe.

The slight easing was short-lived. There was a

blinding starburst of light, followed by a sharp

spear of pain in the top of her head. The sixth

chakra was now open, but she had no time to

process it. The light spilled into the center of her

forehead, into the seventh chakra. An electrical

tingling began there.

With all the chakras open, the energy had a full

range to flow and began racing through all seven

centers in a figure eight pattern. It created a rocking

sensation along her spine. She felt like she was

being jerked off the couch, but knew that was just

her perception. She also knew her 'third eye', which

was linked to the sixth chakra, was now engaged

with Damien's. Colors flashed behind her eyelids—

red, orange, yellow, green blue, indigo, violet—

alternating with light-speed images she couldn't

decipher. Faster and faster and faster.

Clawing, sexual desire permeated it all. Kara's

heart raced, her breasts ached, her vagina throbbed

with basic, primal need. This was when most

Sentinels and conductors came together physically.

When the steady pounding of the male into the

female set up a cadence that merged with the

lower-based chakra energy signature of the Belian,

slipping into that energy like a key into a lock.

This was when Richard would have entered her

body, filling her, slaking her desperate need, as

their energy merged to surround and pattern the

Belian's energy, culminating in an explosive climax

and leaving strong mental images that would lead

Richard to the identity of the Belian.

But there would be no relief for her this time. No

physical release or the bonding of minds and souls,

or the glow of the spiritual aftermath. No lying in

bed afterwards and piecing together the parts of the

Belian puzzle, then making love again, this time

with leisurely tenderness. No Richard. Ever again.

Grief engulfed her, but not even that pain could dull

the relentless sexual demands of her body. She

wrenched her thoughts to Doris. For her, she could

handle this—she
would
handle it. She'd come this

far, and Doris's murderer was not going to get away

with his crime. Kara reached deep, trying to ride

the waves of energy and focus on the stunning

starburst radiating in the center of her mind.

The images flashing through her mind in a super

blur meant nothing to her, but that didn't matter.

Damien would be able to interpret them. Her job as

a conductor was to magnify and focus his psychic

abilities, allowing him to chisel away at the

Belian's psychic blocks. She was simply a conduit,

albeit a very powerful one.

The energy began to slow, as did the rocking

motion. The color and image flashes became

weaker, began fading. She felt the surge receding,

leaving behind a tingling sensation, like that of a

limb falling asleep, then reawakening. But the

sexual heat didn't recede. The four lower chakras

were tied to the Earth, encrypted with the survival

instinct of mating. Her entire body reverberated

with a now highly charged libido.

Mind over matter,
she told herself, clenching her

teeth. Or maybe a bath in ice water. She felt

Damien withdraw, mentally and physically, and it

left her oddly bereft. Blowing out a shaky breath,

she opened her eyes. He had pushed the chair away

a few feet, and lounged back in it, watching her. He

appeared composed and completely unaffected by

what had just transpired, while she suspected she

was rumpled and wild eyed, with her hair going all

directions.

Damn him. How could he be so impervious? He

was in a human body, wasn't he? She squinted at

his lap, trying to see if he had an erection. He

should have a raging one, if he was experiencing

even one-tenth of the lust she felt right now. She

couldn't tell, not with the dark suit and the dimness

of the room.

Stop it!
she told herself. She was just feeling the

after effects of the conduction, not a true attraction.

Fatigue and exhaustion seeped through her.

"You all right?" Damien asked.

"Just fine." She tried to get up, found her rubbery

legs wouldn't support her.

"Careful there." He was out of the chair in a single

movement, his hands on her arms the only thing

that prevented her from toppling over. "You're

shaking. Here, lie down for a few minutes until you

get your balance."

"I'm okay, really." But she sank onto the couch and

let him swing her legs up and settle her on her back

as if she were a child. She didn't like it, but it was

better than pitching forward onto her face.

"Sure you are." He pressed warm fingers against

her neck, his gaze fixed on her face. "Your pulse is

pretty fast."

No kidding.
That was late-breaking news. Reaching

a sexual flash point tended to have that affect on a

woman. Kara shook her head to clear it, and to

chase away the inane thoughts. She was definitely

punchy, and she couldn't remember ever being this

bad after a conduction.

He returned to the chair. "That was a very powerful

conduction."

"It did seem pretty strong," she conceded, telling

herself to focus on the images produced rather than

the physical after effects. A cold shower was going

to be the first order of business, as soon as her legs

decided to work. "Did you get anything?"

"Not much, although some details might clarify

when I do my evening meditation."

"You'll meditate
tonight?
After all that energy's

been let loose?"

"It will be much more controlled. Regular