That was one thing he couldn’t tell them about, or they’d think he was insane.
So, when he insisted that they would be helping, the team didn’t offer to help. He wasn’t shocked, but what did surprise him was that they basically told him he was on his own.
Uh, okay.
Talk about poor morale and team spirit. Well, screw them. At least he’d be able to work with Brianna.
There was that plus.
And it was huge.
As he sat at his dinner table, eating the burger and fries he’d grabbed from the pub, he was curious if she was still awake.
He reached for her through the static, hoping he’d find her. He wasn’t sure she’d answer, but when she did, his heart felt a million times lighter.
‘What are you doing?’ he asked.
‘Sitting in my room and reading. You?’
‘Burger.’
There was laughter.
‘Fries, and beer. I can smell the salt and yeast. I think you’re having more than a burger.’
He joined her in the amusement.
‘I wanted to check on you and say goodnight. I was thinking about you.’
‘I was thinking about you, too, and I can’t wait until tomorrow morning.’
He was so damn glad.
He was excited too.
Normally, Laird would pick a girl up, fool around, and move on. They were a dime a dozen for a good-looking man, but this one…
Brianna was special.
‘This is better than texting. I can multi-task. This will save me a lot of time in a day.’
She laughed.
‘Do you spend a lot of time texting women?’ she teased. ‘Wait! Maybe it’s best I don’t know that, and don’t tell me you’re a serial picnicker.’
He laughed.
‘Never.’
Brianna was glad. She honestly wanted this man’s attention all to herself.
There was something about him.
To show him she was definitely interested, Brianna did something she rarely did.
She pushed the boundaries.
‘It’s more intimate.’
That word hung there.
It made both of their hearts race at the implications, and neither fought it.
‘Be safe tonight, Miss Collins. If you need me, or my hero dog, call me.’
There was laughter.
It made him smile.
‘Think about me,’ she offered back.
He knew for sure he would.
Today, his life had changed.
And Laird didn’t know how he’d ever go back.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Graymoor
She knew it was a dream. Avalon could tell the difference, but she also knew she needed to find a way to talk to the woman who haunted Lucian’s home.
A dream walk was the only way to do it.
While she loved them, when she did them with Nate, doing it with an unfamiliar spirit…that was odd.
It was also dangerous.
She wasn’t sure what would happen, but at least she had Lucian to listen to her if she cried out for help. That was the best part of having a psychic partner. They always had your back, and could save you.
So now, as she walked through the house in her sleep, she was seeking some answers.
“Maribel!” she called.
There was no answer.
Avalon walked down the stairs, and she could see everything. That was the beauty of being in a dream state. Her world was expanded, and she could actually see.
It made life easier.
“MARIBEL!” she called.
There was laughter.
Avalon could feel it poking at her skin like little fingers, trying to get her attention.
Then it changed direction as if leading her. It came from the front door.
Avalon headed out, walking through the trees, taking in the misty night sky and the fog that was coming in from the bog. It was beyond creepy.
A part of her instinct was warning her to wake herself up, but the curiosity was there. Avalon wanted to explore.
Thankfully, she was safe with her lifeline back to reality. Lucian would anchor her.
“Where are you?” she asked.
The woman stepped around a tree, showing herself. She was dressed in some scantily outfitted dress of some prostitute from hundreds of years ago.
“Are you Oracle?” she asked.
“Yes. Are you the one trying to communicate with us?” Avalon asked, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. “Maribel?”
“Yes.”
“What is it you need me to know? I can’t hold this dream walk for long.”
The woman began spilling everything.
“So much bad has happened here. You have to stop it from continuing.”
“Continuing?”
“This was what created this mess. My lover.”
“What about him?” Avalon asked, as they moved closer to the trees.
“He killed me. He used my heart, and I’m trapped here. You have to stop it from continuing.”
Avalon weighed her words, and normally, she could tell if the person was being genuine. Only here, in this mid-place between the living and the dead, she couldn’t do it. She’d have to trust her.
Dealing with the dead wasn’t as much fun as dealing with psychics. Instead of judging the woman, she did the next best thing.
She listened.
“Is that what you were trying to show Bishop and Lucian when they were making love? Were you leaving us breadcrumbs to figure this out?”
“Yes, I was. It’s the only way I can communicate with them. I’m sorry if I hurt her. I needed the woman to understand, and the man to tell the story. I can’t leave here. He must have done something to trap me here. Maybe it was a spell. I don’t know, but I am a prisoner. Set me free, please.”
Avalon got it.
This woman needed their help. While she could communicate with the dead, and had before, this was new for her. Maybe it was her gifts expanding.
Avalon knew she was getting stronger. Perhaps, this was part of it.
“This is the tree that they hung me from,” she admitted, touching the trunk. It appeared to move beneath her fingers, like the body of a snake.
Avalon took a step back. She felt off, but she wasn’t sure why.
“Were you a witch?” she asked.
Tears filled her eyes, and she shook her head. “No. He was the witch. I was just his plaything. He used my body, and when they came, he let them kill me.”
“What was his name?”
“Sir Lawrence Keane.”
“We’ll do what we can,” she promised. “You can trust us to figure it out.”
“If you don’t, the killing will go on. It will never end.”
As they stood there, Avalon felt like the woman was crowding her. She kept moving back until her back was against the tree.
Apparently, the dead didn’t have a sense of boundaries. They would have to work on that. Avalon was uncomfortable, and all the warnings were going off in her head.
When she looked up, there were so many vines above her that they formed a massive knot. To Avalon, they looked like a den of undulating snakes.
She shivered, and that’s when the dream wavered.
They were creeping toward her.
They were trying to entangle her.
“Whoever is killing is playing with black magick,” Maribel said, moving away from Avalon. “I have to go. I can’t stay. Bad things are coming. They always do here. This land is cursed.”
With that, she was gone.
Avalon tried to move, too, only the vines entangled her. They wrapped around her body, and then her throat.
She began suffocating.
In her mind, she began screaming for Lucian, begging him to hear her.
Only, there was silence.
In that moment, Avalon knew the truth.
Her partner was gone, and she was alone.
* * * O R A C L E * * *
Across Town
Basement
While the need to slow them down was there, the sacrifice wasn’t available.
So, the spell had to be done with blood.
As the concoction was mixed, the words were chanted, and the energy put out there, it was time to watch and wait.
They had to be slowed down.
They were coming to ruin the plans.
Well, let’s see what would happen if one of their own died. Then…maybe they could leave well enough alone. After all, this was Ireland, their country, their heritage, and a long tradition.
Carman would bless.
Carman would kill.
Blood would taint those who tried to stop it. Because in the end, it was those who didn’t mind taking a life, who would come out on top.
It had been promised.
Chapter Eight
Tuesday
Middle of the Night
H is sleep, at one point, turned ugly. It went from pleasant dreams about a life he desperately wanted to one where he could hear her screaming for her life. It was peppered with tears, begging, and his name being called over and over again. It was like nothing he’d ever heard before.
When Avalon dream walked with him, it was always a beautiful experience.
Now?
It felt like hell.
Something in her voice pulled him from sleep, and when Nate sat up, he was scared out of his mind.
And she was gone.
Nathaniel Carter had only been more scared once in his life. It was when Avalon’s father had taken her into that building, and it blew up.
This…it felt that same way, and he couldn’t understand it. Something was wrong.
Turning on the light, he noticed one thing.
Her side of the bed was cold. Avalon hadn’t been there for a while. That didn’t seem right at all. She went from sleeping beside him to missing.
“Avi?” he asked, thinking maybe she was in their bathroom.
Nothing.
“Avi?” he called louder.
He heard sobs in his head. That couldn’t be good.
Jumping out of bed, Nate pulled on his pants, shirt and boots. Then he went running out into the hall, calling her name.
She didn’t answer.
He was getting desperate.
His heart was beating louder as it began thumping in his ears.
As he raced down the hallway, the rest of the doors began opening, to see what the hell was going on. First out was Jagger, and he was pulling on his boots.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, wide awake.
“I can’t find Avalon!”
That alarmed him.
The next door to open was Maura’s, and she was buttoning her shirt.
“What the hell, Nate? People are sleeping!”
“I heard her in my dream. She was screaming. I can’t find her. I can’t hear her anymore!”
They didn’t have to ask who ‘her’ was.
Lucian opened his door. He came out running, and his face said it all.
He was freaked out.
“She’s in the bog! I can hear her!”
That was the last thing they all wanted to hear. It was dangerous outside when you could see, but blind? What the hell was Avalon thinking?
They didn’t get why she was out there.
Racing down the stairs, they all reached the front door and burst out, shouting her name.
There was no answer.
“I can’t see anything out here!” Bishop said, using the flashlight on her phone to keep from tripping on old roots and the ground.
Lucian was tuned in. Once he reconnected, he could hear the voices in static. They led him toward her.
“She’s hurt,” he said, running toward the tree. “Avalon! Hold on!”
Nate wanted to be sick.
And then they found her.
In the moonlight, Avalon was caught up, hanging from that gnarled old tree. The vines were around her throat, and she was going blue.
“Jesus!” Nate said, as they reached the tree.
Jagger and Maura began climbing it, knives out. As they reached her, Avalon’s eyes opened, and they saw the fear.
Jagger started cutting them away, trying not to hurt her.
Maura couldn’t believe this.
How the hell had this happened?
It looked like the vines were trying to cover her, making sure she was never seen again.
It was like the tree wanted to swallow her whole in its creepy vine cocoon.
“Avalon! Hold on!” Nate said, reaching for her.
Lucian wanted to be ill. As he stood there, Bishop holding onto him, he knew this was his fault.
He’d brought them there, and he’d disconnected from her. He didn’t hear her, and if it wasn’t in time…
He’d never forgive himself.
Jagger got the worst of the vines pulled from her, and Avalon grabbed onto him. She buried her face in his neck as he began climbing back down.
“Shhhh, I have you. It’s okay, honey, I have you,” Jagger said, as he navigated the large creepy tree.
“Oh, Jagger,” she whispered.
He could only imagine how afraid she’d been. He saw it and was terrified.
Living it?
Yeah, big time freak out.
“Avi, what happened?” he asked.
“I couldn’t reach Lucian. I was trying to reach him, but he was gone,” she said, her whole body shaking.
When Jagger got to the bottom, he dropped to his knees, and Avalon still clung to him. He patted her back gently as he cradled her in his arms.
Roxy was by her side, checking her pulse and the vine burns on her neck.
“She’s cold. Here, wrap her in this,” Roxy said, pulling off her shawl. “We need to get her inside, warm, and checked out.”
Nate touched her. “Avi.”
She looked up blindly at him. “Thank you for hearing me. I thought I was dead.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“I’m cold, Nathaniel.”
He scooped her up and began carrying her back to the house.
His nerves were shot to shit.
This was something he had never wanted to experience again. He was going to have to handcuff her to him.
Literally.
Inside, Bishop poured her a big shot of brandy as Roxy checked her out. Avalon sipped it, trying to get warm.
The whole family was freaked out.
While they were accustomed to crazy, this was a whole new level—and some scary shit.
“What happened?” Nate asked. His temper was brewing again as he was ready to snap.
“I was dream walking, and I somehow got lured outside. I thought I was safe. Normally, I’m anchored, but something in that dream got me out of the house.”
They did not like that at all.
“It felt evil.”
They REALLY didn’t like that.
“I don’t understand why Lucian didn’t hear me. I called and called,” she said.
Oh, he knew why.
Nate glanced over at the man, and his face must have said it all. Lucian wasn’t having it.
“Stop right there, Nate. Don’t you dare give me that look,” Lucian stated.
“Why shouldn’t I?” he asked, angrily.
“Maybe because you can’t fucking have it both ways!” he said, erupting. His nerves were raw with what had happened, but he wasn’t at fault.
There was no way he was taking the blame for this clusterfuck.
Avalon sipped the brandy. “What’s going on?” she asked, trying to use Lucian’s vision, but not being able to connect.
He was blocking her.
But why?
What had she done?
“You could have been killed,” Nate stated.
Avalon was aware, but there was something there that the two men weren’t saying. Avalon could feel the angry energy, and their auras were bright red.
A fight was coming.
“Why are you both angry at each other? What is going on that you’re both not telling me?”
Lucian had enough.
He refused to carry this too.
“Nate doesn’t want me connected to you. So, he asked me to stay out of your mind. That’s why you couldn’t reach me. I turned you off.”
She turned her head toward Nate.
“Why?” she asked. “Why would you go behind my back and ask my psychic partner to do that to me?”
“Because I just wanted you to need me. I just wanted to have my fiancée to myself for once.”
The whole team watched.
It was a nuclear explosion teetering on the edge. One wrong step, and they were done.
Literally.
“Nathaniel, I have to have someone to ground me. It’s dangerous for me to do what I do without someone watching my back. Like Luke has yours when you’re investigating, Lucian is my backup.”
He didn’t say anything.
He couldn’t.
If Nate opened his mouth, bad shit was coming out—he could tell.
Silence was the best option.
Unfortunately, for him, Lucian wasn’t going to do the same thing. He was over it.
“I can’t be guilty of both sins,” Lucian stated. “I can’t be blamed for being close to Avalon, and then blamed when I can’t help her. I’m only one person. What you’re asking isn’t fair and it isn’t right!”
This was the breaking point.
Lucian was done.
He glanced over at Avalon. “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. I wanted to help, but I’m not going to be Nate’s whipping boy when he’s feeling insecure. I’ve not crossed any lines, I’ve done everything that everyone has asked of me, and I’ve tried to be part of this. Clearly, I’m not. Trust is a two-way street, and I’m off at the next exit.”
Lucian headed toward the door.
“Lucian,” Avalon called. “Please don’t leave me. You’re my friend,” she said softly. “I need you to be me.”
He got that, but he couldn’t carry more than his share of the burden, and right now, he was carrying Nate’s emotional baggage.
It wouldn’t work.
Oracle Haunting (The Phoenix Files Book 4) Page 16
