Knock, knock...

by Dale Mayer

  And Roman was holding a time bomb by holding onto his secret about his paintings. And once Shay made that connection...

  There were going to be fireworks.

  Only Stefan knew Shay had to work this out herself. With Roman.

  Still he'd need to watch her because of other dangers he hadn’t identified, though he’d try to keep their connecting door closed more from now on. Shay wasn't out of danger from her attacker. Indeed, with the undercurrents moving on the ethers, she was mixed up with something nasty.

  He could only hope her doors were open to him when it all went to hell. It was dangerous for her to stay too focused on Roman. Someone could take advantage…She could make a mistake that could cost her life. Yet he understood Shay’s lack of focus…

  The emptiness he’d felt for so long was disappearing and an expectation was building. He too felt there a special person would be entering his life soon, one he couldn’t identify yet and didn't dare think about. As long as nothing sent their universal plan sideways. He'd long ago learned that it could do that in a heartbeat, when he least expected it.

  And he didn't dare have something go wrong now. He'd waited too long for this vision to come to fruition.

  And he'd waited too long for her.

  It's going to happen. Soon.

  Stefan groaned. He closed his eyes and just once, for just a quick moment, he reached out mentally and stroked the aura of the woman he loved.

  The woman who didn't know he existed.

  And then, he, Stefan the esteemed artist and psychic, felt a measure of doubt. Given his shadowy world, how could he ask anyone to share that with him?

  Even as he basked in his recent connection to her aura, something dark slid across his consciousness. Something familiar. Something deadly that raised all his psychic hackles.

  ***

  Early Tuesday morning…

  The hospital was quiet when they arrived. At least quiet on the outside. Brilliant lights lit the almost empty parking lot but the halls were dimmer than normal. Shay led the way to the emergency room, stopping to speak with the nurse at the desk.

  "Good, I'm glad you made it. The police are waiting to speak with you." She smiled and led the way to the bed at the far right. "She's seen the doctor, and he's ordered a bunch of tests. But she's been unconscious since she was brought in."

  "Who found her?" Shay asked, but the nurse had already walked away.

  "We were going to ask you a few questions about that?" A police officer stood slightly off to one side. "I'm Detective Marsden. You're Shay Lassiter?"

  Shay nodded. "That is correct." She walked over to stand at the end of her cousin's bed. She was almost ashamed to admit that she barely recognized her.

  The woman who appeared to be in her early forties was tall, slim, with short dark hair and a hint of curl. Nothing about her cousin’s appearance was familiar in Shay's mind. Really, she could have been a stranger off the street.

  Shay could vaguely remember her, but that was it. How long had it been? Ten years? More? She wasn't even sure she knew the tenuous blood connection that linked them. After they lost their parents, she and her brother had clung to Pappy. Grandmother Isabella had been alive back then and Shay and her brother had grown up feeling loved and cherished.

  After her grandmother's death, Shay had become even closer to her grandfather. The cousins had been there in the distance. But as Pappy hadn't been close to Grandmother's family, Shay hadn't become close to them either.

  Right. Now she remembered the woman. Marie Short. Marie's grandmother was the older sister of Shay's deceased grandmother.

  "You know this woman?" asked the Detective Marsden. He consulted his notebook. "Marie Short?"

  She frowned at him. How did one answer that question? She didn't really know her, but she knew of her. Then she realized that Roman stood close to her side, his arm around her shoulder, to offer comfort and support should it be needed. A nice gesture, but not necessary.

  "She's a distant cousin."

  "Distant? How distant?"

  Shay explained the relationship. "In fact, I'm not sure I've seen her in the last decade."

  "Have you had any contact with her? Phone calls, emails?"

  Shay shook her head. "No. Nothing." She frowned again. "I don't understand what's going on."

  "This was clutched in her fist." The detective held out a small plastic bag with a scrap of ivory paper inside.

  Shay reached for it and read it aloud. "If anything happens to me, call Shay Lassiter. She'll understand." She turned to stare at the unconscious woman. "I have no idea what this means." She wagged the bag in the air. "I hardly know this woman."

  The detective studied her face carefully. Then he took back the evidence. "Well, if you come up with anything to explain this, please let me know."

  He'd almost gotten out of sight when it hit her. She spun around and raced after him, Roman on her heels.

  "Wait, Detective Marsden."

  He turned around. "Did you think of something?"

  "I don't know. It's just there's another odd issue going on right now, and I'm afraid that the two odd incidences make a coincidence, and I don't––"

  "Believe in those," the detective finished for her. "Neither do I. So tell me what's going on."

  Wincing, Shay said, "You're probably better off calling Detective Chandler." She rubbed two fingers against her temple. "But I'll give you a quick rundown." And she did, and then she checked her watch. "So much for sleep tonight."

  "I suggest you head home and grab a few hours." He handed her his phone number. "I'll catch up with Detective Chandler, and if you think of anything else, call me."

  She watched him walk away, slowly becoming more aware of the ever quiet Roman at her side.

  "You didn't tell him about tonight?" he asked in a neutral tone.

  She glanced up at him. "How can I?" she asked simply. "Look how much trouble we had convincing you?"

  "Good point." Roman glanced back toward the hospital bed. "Do you want to stay with your cousin?"

  "Want to? No…but I will, just for a moment." She made her way back through the quiet hall to where her cousin, Marie, slept. Taking a look at her aura, Shay studied the energy flow from the woman’s chakras. Dark purple and a deep red swirled in a tempest through several of the chakras. Backing out from the chakras, she studied her cousin's aura, realizing it lay close to her cousin’s body, snug, as if unable to loosen up and flow normally. Shay narrowed her eyes and looked for a cause.

  It was almost as if her cousin's energy was being restrained…only there was nothing holding her there now. But there could have been earlier. But to hold that kind of grip on the aura and to have it continue long after the restraints were gone… And who or what had constrained her?

  She stepped closer, and after a quick look to make sure she was alone with Roman, she reached out with both hands and stroked the surface of her cousin’s aura, moving the darkness away and adding in her own, lighter energy. Then she stroked up towards Marie's head, removing the stress that had cramped her aura, easing the stiffness and the tension holding it tightly in place.

  Taking her time, Shay eased the other woman's fear, a palpable emotion Shay felt the same way. She didn't know what had scared Marie so much, but something had to have made her retreat so deep inside. As she kept her auric energy in tightly, she'd also gone inside mentally.

  To protect herself.

  That was it. Her cousin wasn't unconscious. She was in hiding.

  Shay needed Stefan's help.

  Damn. She called for him. No answer. Given the time, chances were he was asleep and wouldn't appreciate being woken up. Right now, it didn't matter. They needed to bring this woman out of her self-imposed cage and find out who'd done this to her.

  She called Stefan again, louder. Stronger.

  Stop yelling. I'm here.

  Shay explained the situation.

  Stefan immediately kicked awake. Let me take a look. See if I can find
her in there.

  Good. Her energy is very low. Dangerously low. I think her consciousness is hiding.

  It probably is, Stefan agreed

  And he disappeared.

  ***

  Stefan shifted and landed his consciousness beside Shay at the hospital. The disembodied world he walked made it hard for others to detect him. Even those that walked between realities like he did. Shay could see him if she’d looked but she didn’t take her eyes off the unconscious woman in bed. Shay.

  She turned toward him and grinned. "Hey," she said.

  He smiled, loving her easy acceptance and lack of questions. Then he jumped into her cousin's mind. Silence enveloped him. Normally, in a quiet mind there was still a distant chatter in the background, but here there was nothing. A muted silence, like something pressing down…putting a buffer between this world and her thoughts. Like cotton wadding plugged in between her and whatever she was hiding from.

  Shay had a similar sensation when she'd been attacked by Darren. She'd experienced an odd sense of not caring what happened to her. But this wasn't Darren.

  He dug deeper. So odd. It's like there was nothing but emptiness. A blackness devoid of all thought. How could that be?

  He wandered around, looking for a weakness, a way through the blackness to something else.

  The more he pushed or tried to weasel through, the thicker it became. Cloying and stale, the denseness pressed in on him. How could nothing have weight? Then he understood. The black energy wasn't hers.

  Someone was in her mind. Except there was no sense of a life force. The energy felt dead…or deadened, maybe. As if there was nothing vital or alive left in it. There was a distancing as if life wasn't prized enough to care about.

  He spun around and realized the dark energy had been stuffed into this woman's mind. Filling it, making it seem like it was hers. Leaving no space for Marie. Almost suffocating her.

  How interesting. The scientist, the student, in him was fascinated.

  He’d been in other people's minds and he'd seen other energies with similar capabilities. And some with their own twisted variations. Still he hadn't quite seen this before.

  Was this woman's mind still connected to her body or was she brain dead – and not in the sense doctors meant when they said something was dead. In this case, it appeared as if the woman’s body was still alive and the brain functioning, but the consciousness had been sucked out. Shay’s cousin was alive – but also dead.

  He'd laugh if it wasn’t so serious. This was stuff from zombie movies. He had to try and save her if he could. If not...then he needed her shell to die before someone else tried to take it over.

  With his goal in mind he reached out, calling for her. Marie?

  No answer. Not that he'd expected any. He searched the space, walking blindly forward, calling out for the woman. For a flicker of life.

  Nothing.

  How could he find the person who belonged here?

  By tracking the person that didn't.

  Chapter 19

  Shay studied the patterns of Marie's energy as her cousin lay unconscious. There was so little of her energy, it scared her. Not only was her aura snugged up tight, but the chakras appeared sluggish and seemed to be losing their ability to circulate energy – as if she were dying. But what had caused this?

  The doctors said her cousin had no physical injuries. None that modern medicine could see, at least.

  Psychic attacks chilled her to the bone. Her experience with Darren had been bad enough, but to think there could be others… The psychic conflagration in her apartment that had engulfed her ghost cat, Morris, caused a heartache she still had to deal with. The cat had been dead for a long time, but she'd so enjoyed his spirit. He'd always put a smile on her face. And she missed him dearly.

  A disruption at Marie's crown chakra caught her attention. The crown chakra, the connection to the universe, or the connection to what lay beyond, held what some people referred to as a bank account of grace – goodness to draw on in need. It always fascinated her.

  In Marie's case, it was empty, running on a deficit.

  This was beyond odd.

  And the heart chakra had a faint glow, an otherworldliness to it.

  Not good.

  Shay chewed nervously on her bottom lip. This felt too close to the edge. Shay opened her own heart chakra and poured energy into Marie's first chakra.

  Stefan, hurry up. Shay hurried to the bedside. She reached out and caught Marie's hand. "Hold on Marie. Please, hold on."

  Stefan! I think she's dying. Hurry.

  Shay closed her eyes and sent warm, loving energy into the struggling heart chakra. But the energy swirled helplessly in place.

  "Shay? What's the matter?" Roman came up on the other side of her, his arm wrapping around her shoulders. "The nurse said she was going to be okay."

  She looked at him, sadness in her voice, "The nurse was wrong. Marie is almost gone. I don't think Stefan can even stop it."

  "Stefan." Astonishment laced Roman's voice. "What's he doing here?"

  "Helping me. We were trying to figure out what happened to her and how what’s happened could be connected to me." She waved a hand at her cousin. "Then this...change, this lack of life presented. I can't explain it," she whispered. "I think it's too late."

  ***

  Stefan focused on the black energy trying to absorb it into his psyche. There was a familiarity to this energy. He looked for the energy signature. But the energy was old, the signature dissipated, or he'd have seen it at the beginning.

  And that damned energy still felt wrong. As if it wasn't real energy.

  Shit. Stefan spun around in amazement.

  It wasn't real energy in here. It was the illusion of energy.

  With that understanding, the illusion faded from his psyche, and he could see the poor woman's mind.

  Even as he watched, he saw the silver cord, barely attached at the body, start to separate.

  No!

  He jumped forward, frantically wrapping the cord in warm, healing energy. For several moments, he worked, calling out.

  Stop. Don't leave. We can help you. It's not too late. He poured energy into her mind, into her aura, into her cord.

  And all for naught.

  He couldn't hold onto the cord.

  It separated in his grasp. Hovered briefly and slipped free.

  Stefan stood, shocked, scared, and silent, in the empty shell where Shay's cousin had once lived.

  ***

  She picked up Marie's hand and held it close to her chest.

  Stefan's exhausted voice slid into her mind, tinged with frustration and overwhelmed with sadness. Shay, I lost her.

  I know. Shay looked over at Roman, fat tears running down her cheeks. "She's gone."

  He looked at her in surprise, and then moved to the other side of the bed and checked for a pulse.

  His gaze, when it met hers, was black and lost.

  "How? I don't understand. She doesn't have any sign of injury."

  "No," Shay whispered. "She died from a psychic attack." And she knew, even as she said it, that this would be hard for Roman to take in. Hell, she was still struggling with what happened.

  "Is this related to the attack on you earlier tonight? That I came racing to your apartment for?" he asked in a hard voice.

  She bowed her head. "I don't know, but I'm afraid it could be."

  "Does Stefan know?" Anger and fear had him striding toward her. He reached out and shook her shoulders gently. "Ask him."

  With a nod, she did as he requested.

  I can't be sure because I can't get a handle on the energy signature. But...I think it is.

  "Stefan says, quite possibly but there's no way to be certain."

  And that scared her shitless.

  "Well you won't be alone again until this asshole is caught." His voice hardened. "I'll be bunking at your place for now. I may not be Stefan but at least I can watch over you. Call Stefan if you need he
lp."

  She studied him. She wasn't averse to having company until this was over. It's one thing to fight an attacker in the flesh. It was quite another to fight one you couldn't see.

  And Roman had no idea how bizarre these attacks could get.

  But neither did he know how to fight them either.