Hikers - The Collection (Complete Box Set of 5 Books)

by Lauren Algeo

  ‘Thank god,’ he whispered against her skin as he covered her face in desperate kisses. ‘Thank you.’ He pulled her body close to him and held on as tight as he could, weeping quietly.

  ‘Get her out!’

  There were shouts and grunts from behind as Seok and Connors carried Marie from the bedroom. Brewer glanced over his shoulder to see how she was. Marie was unconscious and wearing an identical dressing gown to Ellen’s, only parts of hers were singed from flames. There was a trail of blood from her temple to her chin. He thought she would be ok too.

  Brewer turned back to Ellen and noticed Daniel standing in the doorway of his bedroom, further along the hallway. The boy was staring at him with a curious half-smile on his face. The expression only lasted for a split second before his eyes bugged dramatically and his mouth dropped open. He ran down the hallway towards his parents.

  ‘Mother! Father!’ The panic in his voice was unnervingly authentic.

  Connors embraced his son in a fierce hug and sobbed openly – he’d been about to run into the flames again to check for the boy but now he was there, safe. Brewer shuddered with rage. He would make that monster pay for what he had done.

  Ellen began to stir in his arms and he stroked her face and whispered soothing words, however the only thing he could see in his mind was Daniel’s little smirk. For a brief moment, he had gotten a glimpse underneath the carefully constructed mask and he didn’t like what he’d seen one bit.

  Chapter 37

  Daniel tapped his feet impatiently and stared at the stark white wall in front of him. They’d been at the hospital for hours and even the pained and confused minds around him couldn’t keep him occupied. He was too angry for childish amusement.

  The night had been a disaster. He’d let the need take over and lost his usual self-control. Everything had started well: he’d had the perfect weekend planned. He would toy with Cara at the dinner party as a build up to the main event on Sunday. His mother had arranged for him to go on a field trip with his new tutor and he’d been intending to use their alone time for some special bonding.

  He’d been self-disciplined enough to stay out of her mind all week but the intrigue had been eating away at him. He wanted to know everything about her, and learn how she had been mentally strong enough to push him from her mind. He had a feeling that her past would hold some secrets and a morning alone in a secluded landscape would have been the ideal opportunity to find out. If he hadn’t liked what he’d found then a timely releasing would have been in order.

  If he were honest, a releasing would likely have happened even if there weren’t anything untoward in her mind. The need was growing unbearable and he couldn’t wait until the summit to quell it. No one would bat an eyelid if a single, lonely woman had an unfortunate accident. It might seem like bad luck for two of his tutors to die so close together but no one would ever suspect him. After all, John had died of a heart attack and poor Ellen would have had a freak accident. He’d been looking forward to it all Saturday, enjoying the bubble of anticipation in his stomach. Only then his greedy need had gone and ruined it all.

  The dinner party had been as tedious as expected although Cara had lightened his mood somewhat. He’d laughed gleefully to himself as he’d skimmed over her mind. Since he’d last seen her, Cara had developed bulimia. She was obsessed with her weight and constantly compared herself to other people. He saw from her memories that she purged herself nearly every day and took constant selfies in the mirror to monitor her weight. It was almost too easy for him.

  He whispered to her as she ate her dinner then sent her to the bathroom to throw it back up. Her mind was weak and it hardly took any encouraging from him. In a way, he would have preferred her to have been her old, arrogant self to make it more of a challenge. He’d been intending to take it further when his mother had interrupted his work during dessert. She was sending him up to bed so he would be refreshed for his trip with Ellen.

  Daniel had seen red. His mother was constantly on his back, clinging to him and begging for attention, and now she was distracting him from the only thing he enjoyed. Yes, he could have continued his torment of Cara from up in his room but that wasn’t the point – it was never the same if he couldn’t see the victim. See how much he was affecting them. His irritating mother ruined everything.

  Daniel had stomped up the stairs and paced around his room. In his rage, the solution was clear. His mother was his biggest problem; she got in the way of everything. If she were gone then he would be free to do whatever he pleased. There would be no weak woman breathing down his neck all the time.

  The need swelled inside and urged him on. Get rid of her, it insisted. Let me feel the sweet sense of release. Daniel had nodded adamantly. He would release Marie.

  There hadn’t been much time to plan however he was very familiar with his mother’s mind. He isolated it from the other people downstairs and planted a subtle suggestion: she deserved a nice soak in the bath when everyone was gone. She could take some wine up and light some candles – perhaps his father would come and join her. They’d barely spent any time alone together that week and she craved his attention.

  Daniel sat on his bed and waited. It didn’t take long for their guests to leave then his mother had come upstairs. His father had remained in the study to share a drink with the chef. This was his moment. He’d slipped into his mother’s mind and manipulated her thoughts. His father wasn’t interested in her. He was bored of her.

  Daniel distracted her with words while using her body to light a dozen candles in the bedroom. His need was craving a painful releasing. A fire would be a brilliant spectacle.

  It had almost been perfect, then Ellen had appeared before the fire had fully spread. It had taken Daniel a few moments to realise that something was wrong. His mother had begun to fight him and he’d come further forward to take control but he’d been thrown abruptly from her mind. He’d caught a glimpse of his tutor a second before it happened then he was fully in his room again.

  By the time he’d gotten back in control, his mother was nearly at the door. He couldn’t let them escape. A double releasing would be more euphoric than anything he’d ever experienced before. He’d plucked up the reins of his mother’s mind and snatched greedily at Ellen’s legs. The tussle that followed had been exhilarating and he’d been enjoying watching the life fade from his tutor’s eyes when he’d been rudely ejected again.

  After that it was a shambles. He’d heard yelling through his bedroom door and the commotion as his father and his security men had rescued the two women from the burning room. He was livid – those releasings should have been his, yet he’d been deprived of them.

  He’d taken some pleasure from the stricken look on that Scott man’s face as he’d cradled Ellen’s body but then he’d had to resume his normal acting. Feigning concern for his mother’s wellbeing had been the hardest. He didn’t care for this desperate woman at all. He’d had to draw from his father’s panic and worry to enhance his own.

  Now he was stuck at the stupid hospital while firemen sorted out the damage at the house. His mother was being kept in and treated for smoke inhalation, third-degree burns to her legs, and a cut to her temple.

  He’d been into her room once with his father and had to force a few crocodile tears. She’d fluttered her eyes briefly but hadn’t fully regained consciousness yet. His father was still by her bedside and Daniel had been sent into the corridor in case it got ‘too much’ for him.

  He stood up from the hard metal seat and paced up and down. As much as it pained him to admit it, he’d made a mistake tonight. Now he was thinking clearly again, with the need temporarily subdued, he could see what a terrible idea it had been to release his mother. Losing her would have crushed his father and he might have pulled out of the summit to grieve. Daniel needed his father focussed and driven in order to get what he wanted.

  He’d been careless to do it with so many others present too. Ellen had no doubt smelt the smoke from he
r room along the hall and gone to investigate. He’d been kidding himself if he’d thought he could release them both before the alarm was raised. Greediness was a weakness that he didn’t want to experience ever again. It tasted bitter.

  Daniel paused in his agitated pacing and tried to pick up his tutor’s mind. He flitted from room to room but there were too many people in the hospital and she hadn’t been as injured as his mother. She would most likely be down in A and E somewhere, rather than up on the ward where they were. The staff had taken one look at Connors and rushed Marie through to a private room. She’d needed stitches to her temple and treatment for her burns.

  He wondered what Ellen was thinking. The incident had happened fast but it was undeniably weird. The first part was easily explained: his mother had wanted a relaxing bath and simply lit too many candles. The fire was an unfortunate accident – one of the candles must have been too close to the curtains or fallen over. It was the part when he’d re-taken control in the bedroom that he was curious to get her opinion on.

  He’d used his mother’s body to physically pull Ellen back into the fire and attempted to throttle her. How would she describe that to the police who’d come knocking? Did she think Marie had panicked in the fire and not known what she was doing? Did she believe his mother had tried to kill her?

  Either way, he wasn’t too concerned. He could easily manipulate the minds around him to make the accusation go away. It just intrigued him to find out how people perceived behaviour like that.

  He perched on the seat again and resumed his waiting. That other security man, Seok, would be back with some drinks soon. Then he might be able to sneak off and track down Ellen’s mind.

  Chapter 38

  Brewer squeezed Ellen’s hand tightly and gazed at her with concern. ‘Are you sure you’re up to talking? Do you want some more water?’

  ‘I’m fine,’ Ellen rasped.

  Her throat was dry and scratchy, and her lungs burned from the smoke inhalation, but no amount of water was going to help that. Time would heal her body quickly however she was mentally exhausted. She felt as though she hadn’t slept properly in weeks; her mind would never let her shut down. She knew she should be resting now to get herself better but her brain was on overdrive. She had to tell him everything that had happened with the fire.

  ‘I was so worried about you.’ Brewer kissed her hand tenderly. ‘I saw those flames and I thought…’

  His voice trailed off and he looked down at their entwined fingers. The guilt was eating him up inside. He could feel it gnawing its way through his stomach. This was his fault. If he hadn’t been so drunk, he would have picked up Daniel sooner and he could have prevented all this. He should have been up there with Ellen. It was his job to protect her.

  His pounding head and fuzzy mouth served as a continual reminder of his weakness. He’d washed his face and chewed some mint gum while he was waiting for the doctor to finish assessing Ellen but he knew that his eyes would still be bloodshot and she’d be able to smell the underlying alcohol on his breath. He couldn’t bring himself to confess out loud though. He didn’t want to see the disappointment in her eyes when he told her that she’d nearly died because he’d downed a few too many glasses of scotch. He’d keep that to himself until she asked him directly.

  ‘How’s Marie?’ Ellen asked.

  Brewer had only been allowed into the room a couple of minutes ago and the nurses wouldn’t tell her anything before then. She was desperate to know what was going on.

  ‘She’s doing ok,’ Brewer said. ‘She’s on the second floor, in a private room. Seok said she’s being treated for smoke inhalation, like you, and she’s got some burns to her legs. She had to have stitches for a cut on her head.’

  A grimace passed across Ellen’s face and her right hand drifted subconsciously towards her neck.

  Brewer’s eyes narrowed. ‘What is it? What happened in there?’

  ‘It was me,’ Ellen said quietly. ‘I hit her on the head with the heel of one of her shoes.’

  Brewer waited for her to continue. Ellen’s fingers stroked her neck and he realised that the red marks he’d noticed earlier had turned to bruising. She’d kept her chin lowered and her hair pulled forward to mask it but now she’d drawn attention to it, he could see the darker marks.

  ‘What did Daniel make her do?’ he asked.

  ‘When I got to the bedroom, I could hear him manipulating her,’ Ellen said. ‘I waited outside for you but it all started happening and I had to act. There were candles everywhere and the curtains were alight. Marie was in the en suite, running a bath. I think Daniel intended her to lay in the bath while the fire took hold, maybe he thought death from the smoke would be more lenient for his mother than burning her alive?’

  Brewer gave a grunt and shrugged his shoulders. The boy had wanted to kill his own ‘mother’, he doubted there was any sense of loyalty or consideration there.

  ‘I tried to get her to leave with me before the fire spread but Daniel’s hold was too strong,’ Ellen told him. ‘It’s like she was in a trance, her face was completely blank.’ She shuddered at the memory. ‘I started dragging her out by her arm only Daniel must have realised that something was wrong. Her eyes began darkening as he came forward so I panicked and hit her.’

  ‘Did that work?’ Brewer asked, surprised. Not many people had the mental strength to push out a hiker and he’d thought Marie was weaker than that.

  ‘Temporarily,’ Ellen nodded. ‘I think the shock of the slap jolted her out of it. She saw the fire clearly for the first time and started panicking. I had to force her on to the floor so we could crawl across the bedroom under the thick smoke.’

  She paused to cough and sip some more water from the cup on the bedside table. Her throat was raw but she had to get everything out.

  ‘He came back again,’ she said. ‘I was nearly to the door when Marie dragged me back by my ankle. She was far stronger so Daniel had a tighter hold. I tried to get away but he made her too powerful. Before I knew it, her hands were round my neck…’ She rubbed at her throat again. ‘I could barely see or breathe but somehow my fingers found that shoe on the floor. I hit her as hard as I could. I don’t really remember anything after that.’

  Brewer swallowed down the hard lump that had formed in his throat. ‘You were unconscious when I found you,’ he nodded. ‘I thought…’

  He stopped abruptly as tears filled his eyes. He leant back on the plastic chair beside her bed and bowed his head.

  ‘I’m so sorry,’ he whispered, his voice cracking with emotion. ‘I should have gotten there sooner.’

  He didn’t look up but he could feel her steady gaze on him.

  ‘The drink?’

  There was no accusation in her question however hearing the words stung. He made himself meet her eyes.

  ‘Yes.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Connors got out a bottle of whisky after the wine and I had too much. I didn’t register Daniel fully through the haze. I was out in the garden, getting my head straight, when I saw the flames in the upstairs window.’

  A tear of shame slipped from the corner of his left eye and rolled down his cheek. He had let her down in the worst possible way.

  ‘It’s not your fault,’ Ellen said gently. ‘We couldn’t have known that Daniel would have targeted someone else after Cara had gone. I’m not saying that I condone the excessive drinking – I don’t, and it can’t continue after this is over – but I know that the alcohol helps you deal with something that no one should ever have to go through. I don’t blame you for having demons.’

  Brewer’s heart constricted painfully as she spoke. He’d made a half-hearted vow before that he wouldn’t drink any more but the shame he felt at that moment was the strongest deterrent he could have. Seeing his wife lying in a hospital bed when he should have been there to help her. Her face was ashen and she looked so vulnerable in the oversized hospital gown, yet she was offering him forgiveness. Part of the reason was probably exhaustion, she
was far too tired to fight, but he would take it.

  He wanted to say ‘thank you’ only he didn’t trust himself to speak so he settled for a nod instead. They sat in silence for a few moments and Ellen sipped some more water.

  ‘Do you think Daniel is still here?’ she asked.

  ‘Can’t you feel him?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘I’ve become accustomed to the constant pressure of him this week and it feels fainter right now. I don’t know if my body is just imagining that he’s still there.’

  ‘He might be further out of range,’ Brewer suggested. ‘He’s a couple of floors up and there are so many people here.’

  Ellen had been moved to a side room on EAU from the A and E department and there was no talk of her moving up to one of the wards. It was the early hours and she only needed to stay the one night for observation.

  ‘Maybe.’ Ellen toyed with the bed covers. ‘I just want to know that my mind is safe. I’m not sure I can cover up what I saw just yet.’

  ‘You mean about Marie attacking you?’

  Ellen nodded. ‘Daniel won’t know what I thought about that and he’ll be curious. I don’t think he knows that a vessel’s eyes turn black when a hiker comes fully forward. If he sees that in my mind – Marie with black eyes – he’ll dig deeper. He’ll find out that we know what he is. I’m scared that he might suspect something already.’

  Her voice had risen rapidly as she spoke and Brewer stroked her arm to soothe her as best he could.

  ‘I’m sure that’s not the case,’ he said softly. ‘You said yourself, he probably doesn’t know that her eyes turned black, therefore in his mind, there’s nothing he’s done that would expose himself. He likely just thinks that you’re confused about why Marie attacked you like that. You can twist your memories and blame it on her panic at the fire spreading so fast. Like she thought you were going the wrong way and she was trying to pull you back in the direction she thought the door was.’