by Dale Mayer
Shattered
Book #9 of Psychic Visions
Dale Mayer
Books in This Series:
Tuesday’s Child – FREE
Hide’n Go Seek
Maddy’s Floor
Garden of Sorrow
Knock, Knock…
Rare Find
Eyes to the Soul
Now You See Her
Shattered
Into the Night…
Psychic Visions 3in1
Psychic Visions Set 4–6
Table of Contents
Title Page
Back Cover
Complimentary Download
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Author’s Note
Excerpt from Into the Night…
Complimentary Download
About the Author
Also by Dale Mayer
Copyright Page
Back Cover
Some events are life shattering…
Caught in a gilded cage for most of her life, Hannah keeps trying to escape. There’s something wrong with her the doctors can’t diagnose, but she’d rather be free and die than stay trapped… forever.
When she’s caught once again, Trevor offers her a unique way out. Should she trust him? And what if he finds out the truth? Will he still be on her side?
Trevor knows he has a lot to make up for in his life. He works at it every day. But when the opportunity to rescue an incredibly talented waif comes, he doesn’t realize how much will be asked of him.
Time is against them. And that’s when they find out that not all enemies are outside in the world.
Sometimes they are inside… we just don’t know it…
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KILL OR BE KILLED
Part of an elite SEAL team, Mason takes on the dangerous jobs no one else wants to do – or can do. When he’s on a mission, he’s focused and dedicated. When he’s not, he plays as hard as he fights.
Until he meets a woman he can’t have but can’t forget. Software developer, Tesla lost her brother in combat and has no intention of getting close to someone else in the military. Determined to save other US soldiers from a similar fate, she’s created a program that could save lives. But other countries know about the program, and they won’t stop until they get it – and get her.
Time is running out … For her … For him … For them …
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Chapter 1
The blood…
It wouldn’t slow.
It wouldn’t stop.
It dripped down her arm, her hands. Droplets falling from her fingertips.
Only she felt no pain…
Except when she moved.
Hannah managed to take one step then another. Her weight came down hard, her legs wooden. Her ankles stiff, unbending lumber blocks.
The motion jarring.
More blood flew.
The blood dripped in a slow steady stream onto the gravel beneath her feet. Hannah watched the drips in macabre fascination. Where was it coming from?
Her head pounded. Her body throbbed and her legs, well they’d been screaming for miles.
She had no idea where she was, how she got here or why she’d be walking along this lonely stretch of highway. Yet, she knew she had to continue. It was important. She just didn’t know why. And of course it was dark – black. The moon argued with the clouds above giving her brief moments of luminescence. A heavy dampness clung to her nose.
A couple of vehicles had passed her. But no one had stopped to help.
Why?
Surely she was visible? She carefully took another step and then one more. Someone would help her eventually. Right? She had to keep going forward. She knew there was no going back. There was no choice.
Keep walking. You’re almost there, a voice inside her head said.
“Where am I going?” she sobbed to the empty night.
Somewhere safe. I can help you.
Who spoke to her?
What if it was him? The man she’d been running from. At least she thought it had been a man. Or what if another person found her and didn’t help her? She could become a victim again.
There were horrible images. Fire. Fights. Screams. Intermixed with sex scenes. Like that made any sense.
She gave a short harsh laugh. She had no idea if she’d been a victim or victimizer. But it felt like she’d been beaten to shit and left to die. Her body injured. Her mind vulnerable. Weak. She frowned, trying to figure out the disjointed thoughts in her head. Her memories were fragmented, refusing to flow as they should. Was she okay? Had she been in an accident? Attacked?
Nothing felt normal – right. Nothing felt familiar, like she was in someone else’s nightmare. There was a strange set of thoughts running though her mind, telling her there was something she was supposed to do. Were they her thoughts? How could they be? It was like two separate people were arguing inside her head. Someone pushing her to do something. Someone else calling her away. And then there were thoughts of someone she was trying to stop. He wanted to remove her. He wanted to hurt someone she loved. She’d tried to hurt him earlier today. No, someone else had tried.
And failed she thought.
But everything was mixed up. The thoughts were coated in fear and spiked with anger. And the words, the accent – foreign as if they weren’t hers. There were flashes of a young girl. Then an older one. A knife. Screams. All disjointed. Nothing made any sense. Confused and worried, she turned to stare at the trail of blood behind her as she walked forward.
Of course she wasn’t okay. She hadn’t been okay for a long time.
More disconnected memories came to her mind. More foggy thoughts. Why hadn’t she been okay for a long time?
Doctors flitted into her mind, in then out again. Different men. Women. Names and titles all whispered through and back again. She had no idea what or who they were…even worse she had no idea why they were walking in an endless stream through her bedroom. She tried to focus, to force the tidbits into a coherent pattern, and pain slammed into her brain bringing her to a shuddering stop. She bent over, gasping.
The pain, extreme…yet familiar.
That worried her. No one should have to experience pain for so long that it became familiar. Was that why the stream of doctors? Had she been in several accidents? Was she suicidal? Born with a physical ailment that needed multiple surgeries?
A vehicle approached, the head beams flashing on her sleeve before zipping past.
A sob escaped as the
red taillights disappeared into the distance. They hadn’t even slowed down. Still, the headlights had shown her something.
A driveway… just ahead. The one she’d been looking for. At least part of her thought so…
She hobbled forward, desperate for someone to be home, and yet she was terrified at the same time.
What if the wrong man lived here?
And every man could be the wrong man. She couldn’t remember who she was running from…or to.
A face zipped through her mind only to fade too quickly for her to understand who or what that meant.
She kept walking.
Feeling the first few drops of rain, she wanted to cry.
When the thunder rumbled in the distance, the tears rolled down her cheeks in earnest. Could this night get any worse?
Every step to that driveway was one step closer to her goal. There was a sense of inevitability to it.
She couldn’t take her eyes off the reflector on a post marking the start of the driveway. This was the right place.
That phrase stopped her. Right place?
Had she been looking for it?
Or now, that she was injured, possibly dying – was she expecting a specific someone to help her?
Surely not. She studied her surroundings, trying to peer through the sheets of rain now beating down on her head. Nothing looked familiar.
She felt so terribly alone at that moment.
Why was she heading to the driveway? For help of course, right?
No, not right but she didn’t understand the mixed messages. Everything was jumbled in her head.
She had to keep in mind that she’d been hurt and couldn’t decipher her thoughts or count on the assumptions she was making.
Yet there was something about this place that seemed to call her. At the driveway she slowly walked up the dirt road. It wasn’t even paved. Why?
Was she so far out in the country? She couldn’t see other lights to say there were dwellings close by. Then again she couldn’t see lights up on the dark shadow she’d taken to be a building.
Shit.
Her mind revolted but her feet kept moving, the incline long and slow. Eventually, she reached the large trees that surrounded the house.
It was a house. That alone made her feel better. Or maybe just her feet as they came to a stop.
She swayed in place. The rain had eased. The moon peeked through the prison of clouds to stare out at the world below.
She realized she had to be more injured than she thought.
There was nothing normal about this place. The plants were huge, the leaves oversized. A wind…something…whispered between the plants but at the same time there was a sense of waiting…as if she’d been expected.
But that was beyond foolish.
Right?
She shuddered.
And slowly as if compelled, she turned to face the front door. The intricate faces carved in the wood.
She shouldn’t be here. She should be running as far and as fast in the opposite direction as she could go.
Instead her feet stepped closer to that door.
She took a deep breath, her struggle to stay upright waning. She wasn’t going to make it back down this driveway. She might not even make it to the entrance. But she managed one more step.
A light flashed on overhead, covering her in soft white as she stood in the center of the glow.
She closed her eyes.
And waited for whatever fate was about to hit her with.
*
No. Not there. Don’t go there. You don’t understand. That’s not what I wanted. Not what I intended.
Why did you go there?
You were supposed to keep driving.
Away to safety.
This man will hurt you.
You must hurt him before then.
Attack then run away.
All men are killers.
All men are bad.
All men will hurt you.
Run child run.
Oh, it’s his house. Wow. Okay that was smart. I already tried to kill this one once. Maybe you can succeed where I failed.
*
As days went this was one of the worst. Stefan had been working with several patients at the hospital. Newly admitted, desperately in need of help. His kind of help. And Trevor’s help. Then Dr. Trevor Johnson had been the one who’d called him in.
One of the patients had attacked without warning and caught both men off guard. The patient hadn’t shown any violent behavior up until then. Yet it had erupted from one second to the next and sideswiped the men. He knew to back off and rebalance before attempting more work, but the trigger had startled other patients and it took everything he had to control the situation.
Plus he’d had to go to the children’s ward to see several patients. He’d gotten his center of balance back before arriving – the energy of the ward demanded he be in the right place mentally before he could enter.
He’d found one little girl more distant, colder than ever. They’d been making such great progress with Anita. There was something wrong inside. He was sure it was a possession issue. Maddy had been making progress, but not enough, and the child was fading before their eyes. Yet she’d had a violent outburst today as well. Completely out of the blue, she’d lashed out at him with her plastic knife and fork. It had been a mere scratch, but still… Depressed at the continuous lack of progress and afraid they were in danger of losing Anita, he’d come home in a rare mood.
Not wanting to taint Mina with his negativity and frustration, he’d gone directly to his art studio. But his beloved Mina always understood his moods and needs and brought her harp to play quietly beside him.
Now hours later, his tensions and frustrations eased as he worked. He studied the painting in front of him and shook his head. “This one is garbage.”
Mina gently reached out to him. “If it eased your demons – it’s never a waste.”
He laughed. “True enough.” He threw down the paintbrush, wondering what insight this mess was to give him with the multiple headaches. He could see some kind of headscarfed old woman but over that were slashes of red and black – he narrowed his gaze, his mind twisting and turning on the possibilities, mayb–
A cry for help reached him on the ethers. The same person who’d called the last time. He’d been sending responses but hadn’t received an answer yet.
Just as an insight, one that had been sitting just outside his consciousness, was breaking into his brain, someone pounded on the door. Someone believing he was hurting her…but what was it…?
He was dragged from one reality to another.
And this one was so much worse.
*
Hannah stood at the front door of the stranger’s house. Something was pushing her to stay. Someone else was telling her to run. She wavered on her feet. Then the door opened.
Slowly, carefully.
“Hannah?”
And she knew her worst fears had come true. Her feet, the betrayers, hadn’t understood and had led her to the worst place possible.
She opened her eyes and stared at the beautiful man in front of her.
“No,” she whispered. “It’s not possible.”
“What’s not possible?” said the man standing in front of her, his voice so soft and caring she wanted to cry. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head as he gently grabbed her arm and tugged her closer.
“You’re dead,” she said, her voice choking up. “I know you are. You have to be,” she cried out as the last of her strength drained out of her toes. It was over. Whatever fight she’d been involved in. Whatever struggle she’d been working toward – she’d lost. She didn’t even know why.
“Why do I have to be dead?” he asked, leading her to the front door.
She stared at him, trying to sort through the muddle in her head, but couldn’t. There was only one thing clear. “You have to be because I stabbed you.”
And she collapsed i
nto his arms.
The man she knew deep inside – with as much certainty as she had ever felt in her life – she’d tried to kill once already. A man that she’d try to kill again if she had the chance.
But she didn’t. And wouldn’t. She couldn’t.
He’d won after all.
Chapter 2
Hannah opened her eyes and winced. So much damn white. If she had a choice she’d never see that color on a wall again. Surely she’d spent her whole life in rooms like this one. White ceilings, white walls, white curtains. Was it supposed to be healing or some such nonsense? Because she was sure the constant purity was making her a little sick. Maybe she’d go to hell for her thoughts, but there was a lot to be said for living a little and splashing all that whiteness with wild color.
She rolled over for the tenth time wishing her legs and ribs would stop aching. Somehow she’d hurt herself again and enough to end up in a hospital. Now, if only she could stop the hospital from contacting her family. But she was pretty sure her father already had everyone on full alert for when she showed up at the next medical facility. Not if she showed up but when. He was nothing if not thorough.
That she had no idea what had happened was going to be more ammunition for him to push her back on drugs, and if not to save herself then to save her fellow man.
Before she did something serious.
She stared down at her hands and had to wonder if it wasn’t already too late. She’d been bleeding heavily earlier, yet there didn’t appear to be a scratch on her arms or hands. She didn’t get it. But neither was she going to ask. If she wasn’t connected to so many tubes she’d get up and trek to the bathroom to take a look. As it were she felt fine, other than her legs and ribs – and if she ignored the pounding behind her eyeballs. She’d spent enough time in the hospital to learn to be closemouthed. They freaked out if you asked questions like, What happened to me? Or, How did I get here?
These questions burned at the tip of her tongue, but she had no intention of letting them out. Her episodes were legendary in her family. She’d spent the last ten years dodging her father’s caring, cosseting…okay let’s be honest…suffocating version of love. He wanted her locked up in cotton batting, and she wanted to run wild and free.
