Seeking Evil (Looking Into The Mind Of A Killer Series)

by Mary Eason

  She was still sitting at the table a few hours later when John found her.

  “You’ve read it?” he asked quietly from the doorway.

  “Yes.”

  He pushed away from his place leaning against the doorframe and came and sat next to her. “He was sick, Anna. That explains his odd behavior. He couldn’t help himself.”

  “No. I understand that now. I just wish…”

  He took her hand in his. “I know. Me too. I wish he could have trusted us with this burden. Knowing the truth now helps. For someone like Aaron to learn he had the early onset of Alzheimer’s had to be terrifying. He was so intelligent. I can't imagine how frightened he must have been.”

  Anna nodded. “Do you think he wanted to die? Did he go into the building that night after Peterson to die?”

  Anna wished John would deny it, but he didn’t.

  “I don’t know. Anna, he wasn’t himself. Whatever he did, that wasn’t Aaron. It was the illness.”

  John stared into space, looking back into the past. “He told me something once, right before his death. It’s always troubled me. He said that within every person there is the root of evil. It was up to the person how they chose to deal with the root. They could accept it, give life to it, or they could ignore it, and let it naturally wither away.”

  “I think he was talking about himself. Aaron was afraid he was going to turn into the same type of monster he hunted.”

  Anna remembered Aaron’s manuscript. The one she’d destroyed. That was one piece of the past John didn’t need to know about. She wanted him to keep some of his fond memories of Aaron. Hearing those dark, disturbing rants written by a man she knew now had been mentally ill, would destroy those memories. Anna had to live with that. John didn’t.

  For her, the thought of Aaron keeping such terrifying fears to himself was impossible to understand. She wished that he could have trusted her. John. Someone. Perhaps he’d found that confidant in Cheryl Larsen. The thought no longer hurt as much.

  With all the secrets John and Anna had laid to rest, there was still one final piece to bury. It was the hardest of them all. “The baby…John.” She forced the words out. “I’m sorry.”

  The unmerited forgiveness in his eyes was hard to take. “It’s okay.”

  He’d always been so understanding.

  John smiled and squeezed her hand then drew it to his lips and kissed it.

  She freed her hand and stroked his cheek. “I’m so sorry that I denied you the right to grieve. That I wasn’t there for you when you needed me to be.”

  He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. There’ll be more children. We’ll fill this house with them.”

  Anna had once believed there was a part of John that no woman would ever be allowed to touch, including herself. Now she understood how wrong she’d been. It hadn’t been John keeping her at a distance. It was Anna…her doubts. Her fears. Her uncertainties, not his. Looking at the love in John now, she loved him all the more for not giving up on her.

  In answer, her eyes filled with tears. He was more than she ever imagined and more than she deserved. She wanted all of those things with him. She went into his arms with a quick nod. “Yes, and we’ll be happy every day of our lives. Because we’ve gotten a second chance.”

  He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. She saw the love in his eyes that had always been there through the dark times, the good times, and would be there for all the uncertain times to come in their future…together. And she knew it would always be enough.

  The End

  About the author

  Mary Eason grew up in a small Texas town famous for, well not much of anything really. Being the baby of the family and quite a bit younger than her brothers and sister, Mary had plenty of time to entertain herself. Making up stories seem to come natural to her.

  As a pre-teen, Mary discovered romance novels and knew instinctively that was what she wanted to do with her over-active imagination.

  Today, Mary still lives in Texas, and still writes about romance. In fact, she can’t think of anything else she’d rather do.

  Out Of The Night Book One of The Night Gives Up Its Secrets – Available now

  Prologue

  The past is just the past

  Wake!

  Wake up, Gabrielle’!

  Jessie Seville awoke with a scream, sitting up in bed. Her body was rigid with fear.

  Come to me, Gabrielle!

  Cold sweat dampened and tangled her auburn hair and a single name played through her frightened mind.

  Lili.

  Without a shadow of doubt, she knew she hadn’t been dreaming. It wasn’t just another nightmare, awakening her from a sound sleep to this terrifying, uneasy silence. The feeling grew stronger with each passing second, warning her clearly of the danger that now surrounded Lili, as well as herself.

  “Lili, what’s happened to you?” she whispered into the stillness as she reached for her cell phone and tried Lili's number. The call went straight to voicemail.

  She knew her worst fears were coming to fruition.

  Something evil had been brought back to life. Caught within its grasp was the image of the girl who’d been her friend since childhood. The girl closer than any sister. Lili.

  There was no doubt Lili Von Eyssen’s life was in grave danger and she was reaching out to her friend by the only means possible, through the miles that separated them.

  ****

  Prince Viktor Brincoveanu gazed into the murky waters of the lake while the breeze stirring the trees above him seemed to whisper her name.

  Gabrielle’.

  Her presence embraced him. He could almost feel her, touch her. Taste her. If he closed his eyes, she would be there, as always, never far from him.

  It was both a blessing and a curse that this constancy still had the power to bring useless tears to his eyes after all these years. But then, it had been this hope, the hope that one day she would return to him, that had given him the strength to endure all the long empty years of darkness. The will to survive the nightmare of his existence.

  His life.

  Yet her memory would be forever branded in his heart.

  Her soul haunted him each night he returned to this place. The heartbreak of their last night together was given a life of its own, with the sole purpose of reminding him of just what he’d become and all that was lost to him forever.

  And tonight, like the thousands of nights before, he’d come here. Waiting. Waiting with desperate longing.

  Waiting without hope. Hoping without any real belief in her return. After all, hope was a human emotion. He wasn’t human any more.

  The memories of all they had shared together by this lake made her seem so real to him.

  And yet...

  Her presence was closer tonight. So very close.

  So real.

  He could almost feel her touch, soft and gentle, like the ghost of her that haunted him each night. But why now? Why after all these long years did he feel so close to her tonight?

  He’d long ago given up trying to reach out to her. Whatever bond existed between them ended with her death more than three hundred years ago.

  Why now?

  Was it his imagination, or perhaps his insanity? No, it was far too strong. As if her soul, once dimmed in death, was being reborn. Returning to him.

  He closed his eyes tightly and her image appeared before him. As he listened to the wind whisper her name over and over, he knew.

  Gabrielle’ had returned.

  Chapter One

  Awaken evil

  Six hours later, as Jessie rushed to board the plane that would begin her journey to Bourdaqueste, Romania, she said a silent prayer for the safety of her friend. In the endless hours that passed since she’d awakened, the feelings of fear and urgency had intensified. Without a doubt, her friend Lili’s life was in danger.

  All of her attempts at reaching Lili by cell phone had failed. Jessie had tried the traditional
way. She'd finally managed to understand the overseas operator enough to discover there was no listing for the Von Eyssen family in the village of Vandeburg. Or for that matter, in all of Romania.

  Lili had told her she was going to visit her great-aunt Ilsa whose health had been failing for quite some time. As Lili's only remaining relative, she'd felt as if she owed it to the elderly woman to visit. That had been almost a week ago. Lili was supposed to have returned to Texas by now. Something was terribly wrong.

  At that moment, Jessie’s decision became final. She was going to Romania, on the next possible flight out, and nothing would stop her from finding Lili and bringing her safely back to Dallas. Her first call had been to her father. Her second to the airline.

  As Jessie glanced around the plane at the small number of passengers on board the early morning flight, she wished more than ever that she’d gone with Lili to Romania to claim her unexpected inheritance, the Manor Von Eyssen. After all, that was what Lili had wanted.

  Lili, for all of her flirty, independent, and sometimes wild child ways, had lived a very sheltered life and she was only seventeen. Although younger than Jessie by only a few months, her age wasn’t the problem. It was Lili herself. She’d been raised by a succession of overpaid au pairs. The Von Eyssens rarely spent time with their only child, which had left Lili painfully insecure.

  Lili’s family came from ultra-wealthy Romanian immigrants who’d left their homeland more than a half-century earlier, with the rise of communism. The Von Eyssen’s were direct descendents of the lost throne of Romania, the Royal Bessarabia family.

  Lili was the last remaining member of that once proud bloodline, according to her great-aunt Ilsa Von Eyssen.

  So when Lili's great-aunt Ilsa had called to send her condolences after Lili's parents had died in the car accident and her great-aunt had invited Lili to come for a stay at the family’s ancestral home located on the outskirts of Vandeburg, Romania, a region bordering the infamous Transylvania. The house, along with some obscure title, was all that was left of that once powerful family dynasty.

  Lili had wanted Jessie to come with her. But with finals coming up, Jessie's father hadn't thought it was a good idea, so Lili had flown out alone with the reassurances from her great-aunt that her flight would be met. Looking back now, after being awakened by her fear for Lili’s safety, Jessie knew if anything happened to her friend, she would never be able to forgive herself.

  The flight to Bourdaqueste, Romania, the closest city to Vandeburg with any sizable airport, would take a little over ten hours, including a rather lengthy layover in Amsterdam. Her father had gone with her to the airport and waited until it was time to board her flight.

  Grant Seville kissed his daughter and held her close. "Promise me, you'll be careful. You'll call the minute you arrive."

  "I promise. Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing. You know me, I'm probably just overreacting."

  Her father didn't buy it for a minute. "I wish you would wait for me. I'll be able to clear my schedule in the next day or two. I could fly out with you."

  Jessie closed her eyes. She hated disappointing her father, but her heart told her this couldn't wait. "Dad, I can't."

  He shook his head. Her father knew only too well of Jessie’s ability to see certain future events long before they happened, and how reluctant she was to acknowledge that gift. Like it or not, that gift was warning her very clearly of the dangers surrounding Lili. She could almost see it in her mind.

  The bond between Jessie and Lili began when they were small children, less than three years old. They’d met when Jessie and her parents had moved into the same neighborhood as Lili’s family, and their connection had grown stronger with each passing year. Jessie and Lili were as close as sisters, and as in touch with each other’s thoughts and emotions as twins. He trusted her and Jessie was mature for her age.

  In spite of the early hour of the flight, most of the passengers didn’t seem interested in sleep, including the couple seated next to her who looked to be in their early twenties. They spoke in a language she didn’t readily recognize but guessed to be Eastern European.

  She wondered if they were on their way home. If so, maybe they’d heard of Vandeburg and could give her some idea what to expect.

  “I’m sorry to interrupt, but I couldn’t help but wonder if you and your wife are from Romania?” Jessie asked the couple.

  The husband was the one to answer. “As a matter of fact, we are. We are returning home from visiting my wife’s sister in Dallas. My wife and I live just outside of Bourdaqueste. Are you traveling there as well?” While he spoke with the thick accent associated with the Slovak countries, his English was impeccable. “No, actually I’ll be going a little further. Just past the village of Vandeburg. Have either your or your wife been to that area before?”

  Neither husband nor wife said a word. From the look that passed between them, it was easy to see that not only had they heard of Vandeburg, they knew something about the village they weren’t anxious to share.

  “We have been to Vandeburg but once, miss, a long time ago. I’m sorry, but I’m afraid my wife and I remember very little about the village. As I recall, there was once a small hotel, located close to the tavern. Perhaps it would be best if you spent the night there, and traveled on to wherever it is you are going in the morning. I wouldn’t get caught out on your own at night in that area.”

  His answer didn't exactly ease her fears. “What do you mean? I'm sorry, I don’t understand.” Jessie couldn't believe it. Why wouldn't they just tell her what they knew?

  “Do you have family in that area?” The woman spoke at last.

  Her question through Jessie for a second. “No. No, just my friend. I’m going to visit her and her great-aunt. They live near Vandeburg. Maybe you’ve heard of the family. The Von Eyssen's? According to my friend, they’ve been in that part of the country for hundreds of years.”

  The woman’s eyes widened in fear. “Miss, you must be careful traveling by yourself in that part of Romania. Bad things happen there. Very bad things. It’s not safe for someone young like you. You must be very careful.”

  Her words stunned Jessie into silence, bringing back the apprehension responsible for her being on this plane, bound for a country that filled her with dread. Before Jessie could ask the woman what she had meant by those chilling words, her husband said something in their language, effectively silencing any further warnings.

  Then he addressed his wife in English, for Jessie’s benefit. “Alaina, I really think you should try to rest now. It is a long flight and we have far to go once we arrive in Bourdaqueste.” Alaina nodded then turned away.

  The remainder of the flight slid by in an unending blur of slow, tedious hours that left Jessie going over every single detail of what had happened since she’d awakened that morning. Once the pilot announced their arrival at Bourdaqueste International Airport, relief so powerful it left Jessie weak swept over her. With any luck, she'd find Lili and this whole horrible day would come to an end.

  From the moment she stepped off the plane onto Romanian soil, a feeling of having been there before rushed over Jessie. It was a haunting feeling of coming home to a place she’d been searching for in so many fleeting dreams.

  For most of her life, Jessie simply drifted through life, making few personal connections. As if she were a stranger in a foreign land. Even with her father. Lili was the only person she’d ever had any real or lasting relationship with. Lili understood all about not belonging to anyone, or anything.

  As a child, Jessie believed she was adopted, in spite of all of her father’s reassurances otherwise. Those doubts had continued to grow throughout her teenage years, and even as a young adult. She couldn’t explain it, but it was almost as if she were simply marking time in her present life. Waiting for some monumental event that would end the confusion inside her.

  Her father attributed the strange, disturbing emotions as part of Jessie’s special gift of clairvoya
nce, but he didn’t know about the dreams. They’d started around the time she and Lili had met. They were always the same. Never changing, and never altering in their frequency. Each time Jessie would wake up screaming and shivering with fear. Somewhere within that dream was the explanation she’d been searching for, but as hard as Jessie tried, she couldn’t unravel the truth from the dreams.

  In them, she stood the middle of a turbulent lake, the water closing in all around her. On the shore, someone stood silently, watching. Jessie wasn’t afraid of that person, just the opposite, in fact. Her only thought as the water closed in was that she would never see that person again. Because of the dreams, Jessie couldn’t go near water. Just the thought made her feel like she was suffocating. All of her father’s attempts at teaching her to swim had ended in tears.

  Now, in an unknown country, Jessie felt as if she’d returned home. As seconds slid by, Jessie clung to the reality that her feelings were unfounded because she’d never been to Romania before.

  And yet...

  Even as she reminded herself over and over again, it was little comfort as the strange, disturbing emotions continued to surface, filling her with so much heartbreaking sadness that she found herself crying silent tears. All of the answers to the questions she’d struggled with since childhood were about to be revealed. Jessie had known from the very first moment she had awakened that something beyond her concern for Lili’s safety was responsible for bringing her to Romania. The truth had been there all along, waiting patiently for her to untangle it. Just ahead, the young couple from the plane disappeared into the crowd of people leaving the airport. She wanted to go to them and ask Alaina what was so frightening in Vandeburg, to plead with the woman’s husband to tell her what he was keeping from her.

  But the fear of what might be revealed was more terrifying than not knowing, so Jessie left the terminal alone and more frightened than ever. Above her, the afternoon sun slipped a little further in the sky, and a shiver of uneasiness at what awaited her in Vandeburg slowed her footsteps.