Collateral Damage

by Susan Harris

  Ricky’s words were cut off as Donnie wrapped a thick palm around his neck and lifted the warlock off his feet, his toes scraping the floor. Donnie squeezed a fraction, and Ricky turned white, gasping for breath. Seconds later, Donnie released him, and Ricky crumpled to the ground.

  Ricky gulped in some harsh breaths and glared at Donnie. “Not cool, dude,” he rasped out.

  “Just making a point.”

  “You’re a two-decades-old vampire who was freakishly strong before you were turned. Melanie was a computer tech and is three weeks old. I think I can handle her.”

  “I am twice as strong as the show I just put on, and Melanie has no control over her impulses or strength. She might rip your head off when she hugs you. Right now, we need to get Derek out of the mess he’s in. When this is done, then we will talk with Melanie about seeing you. Until then, back off.” The last word was a growl as Donnie shielded Caitlyn with his big body.

  The blue that streaked his palms receded, and Ricky blew out a frustrated breath. He rubbed his throat tenderly, cautiously easing himself off the ground. As he scrubbed his hand over his face, Ever noticed the five o’clock shadow and bags under his eyes. She guessed that Ricky hadn’t had a good night’s sleep since they had found Melanie.

  “I’m sorry, lads. I feel as useful as a chocolate teapot! My best friend’s been arrested, the girl I… Melanie won’t even talk to me, and now the council are on my ass—”

  His words broke off with a croak as Ricky realized that maybe he had said too much.

  Ever stepped around Erika, who still stood shielding her from the supes. “Ricky, if the council is hassling you, maybe I can have a word with my mom and see if she can do anything.”

  Ricky sneered, an ugly sight from such an attractive man. “Your mom is the frickin’ council, Ever, and she’s the one on my ass twenty-four-seven. Thanks, but I think this is something I gotta handle myself. Witchy politics.”

  Ever made to speak, but Tom strode back into the room and the conversation halted. Ignoring whatever had been happening, Tom went straight to Caitlyn, and the two of them huddled in the corner. Ricky paced a little, and Ever sank back down on Derek’s chair as Erika perched herself on the edge of his desk.

  Caitlyn scurried from the room with Donnie on her tail, and Tom followed them, already on his phone. The room lapsed into an eerie silence before Tom came back in. His brow creased, and Ever noticed tension in his shoulders and a nervous bead of sweat forming on his forehead.

  “So Ever,” he began, “it seems that the Garda commissioner won’t sign off on you officially becoming a part-time member of the team unless you go to some mandatory counselling sessions with our department shrink. Especially after the ordeal you had with Donnelly.”

  From the way he chewed on the inside of his mouth, Ever guessed there was something else behind this mandate, yet Tom had never lied to her before and if he were this anxious to get her to do something outside of the station, then she would trust him.

  “Sure, I’ve no problem doing that if it means I can help out. When is the first appointment?”

  “Half an hour.”

  Right, so Tom wanted her out of the station ASAP. What was going on?

  “Okay, I can leave now and be there in time. What’s the address?”

  Tom snuck a quick look at Ricky. “Ricky, you will escort Ever to her session and wait to bring her back here after. And before you open your mouth with a smart-aleck answer, Derek asked for you to look after Ever while he’s… otherwise occupied.”

  Ricky stopped pacing and sighed. “Sure, add taxi driver to my résumé… like I haven’t got enough going on.” He stormed from the room, and the door slammed shut behind him.

  Ever gathered her bag and coat, walked over, and pressed a kiss to Tom’s cheek. “You better have a good reason for this, Tom, or Ricky’s not the only one who won’t be happy.”

  “Believe me, I do, and I’ll explain it all later. Promise.”

  Ever waved to Erika, who looked deep in thought as she played with her knife. Her hand was on the door to leave when Tom called out to her.

  “The sessions are mandatory, Ever, if you want to join the team. Take advantage of it and get a few things off your chest. You’ve been through an awful lot lately. Might be nice to chat to someone about it.”

  That’s what she had considered over the last three weeks, but now that it was forced upon her, she felt relieved. Perhaps talking to someone about her issues might be for the best. Maybe she could look on it as a blessing rather than a hindrance. Even if she had to be stuck in a car with a snarky warlock to appreciate it.

  Ricky remained tight-lipped as they drove to the therapist’s office, his jaw clenched and his grip on the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles had turned white. She could only imagine the restrictions being a member of her mother’s coven had placed on him, but she wouldn’t hound him for answers, even if Samhain had a hard time refusing her.

  In complete contrast to the storm brewing inside her mate’s best friend, Ricky drove his car with a steady composure that Ever suspected came from working on said car. It was an older model that Ever didn’t recognise, especially since she mostly saw him drive his work car, but it really didn’t take a stretch of the imagination to picture him spending hours on the vehicle. Soft 90’s rock was playing on the radio, and after driving for a little while, the tension released from his jaw and his fingers tapped along with the rhythm of the music.

  “Do you play?” Ever enquired, looking for an in to break the stony silence.

  A goofy grin curled Ricky’s lips. “Yeah, a little guitar, a little piano. Been a while since I’ve had a minute to mess around and enjoy it, but things have been a little cray-cray the last few weeks.”

  “You’re telling me,” Ever said with a laugh. “So far in the last month, I’ve faced down a psycho, acquired a mate, and now said mate is getting framed for a grisly murder.”

  “We could all use a fucking vacation.”

  “If I said ‘hell yeah,’ would you laugh at me?”

  “You just want some alone time with D… Although, if you decided to buy some new underwear for me, I’d drag ya away, too.”

  “Hey! Less talk of my underwear if you don’t mind.”

  The smile remained in place, and after a few more minutes of silence as he drove along, Ricky said, “I can see why D fell for ya. Somehow, you have the ability to make even this grumpy bastard smile. There is something about you, Ever Chace, that I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’ll be fun trying to figure it out.”

  She play-punched him on the shoulder. “Right back atcha.”

  “Derek’s my best friend. He claims I dragged him back into the world, but he has helped me far more than he likes to admit. Let’s just say that at my darkest time, D got drunk with me, sparred with me, and even got me away from here when things went down the toilet. I won’t let him go down like this.”

  “Derek’s lucky to have a friend like you.”

  A faint blush flushed his pale cheeks as he turned the wheel and pulled into a parking spot. The car park was deserted, and Ever shivered as a strange sensation pricked at her senses. She eyed the building with suspicion, snapping out of it only when Ricky spoke.

  “I hate seeing the shrink as well… no offense meant. But these mandatory sessions are a big ol’ pain in the ass.”

  Ricky kept the car running, waiting for her to make the first move, but then a news bulletin caught her attention.

  “We interrupt your afternoon’s classic rock to bring you this breaking news story. A massive tidal wave has struck the popular holiday destination of Hawaii, completely submerging the island. While every effort is being made to locate and rescue survivors of what is being classified as a natural disaster, various sonar scans of the ocean have returned no evidence that the island ever existed. For more information, we go live to our American correspondent—”

  It has begun. That silky voice in her head had returned.
>
  “The world is going mental, I swear.”

  “I think the world was going mental, Ricky, a long time ago.”

  He has no idea, does he, Kyria?

  Ricky removed the keys from the ignition and jerked his head. “Come on, missus. The sooner you go in, the sooner we can get the hell away from here.”

  Ever slid from the car, the uneasy feeling in her stomach continuing to bubble up. When they got to the building, Ricky pushed open the office door and held it for her. Continuing past him, Ever stood in the small reception area as Ricky hunkered down on the couch, casting his head of inky black hair back and closing his eyes.

  Beige walls were littered with inspirational posters, making Ever glad she had never decided to go into private practice or gain another degree in counselling. She made to sit down next to Ricky when the only door inside the office opened and a well-rounded man stepped out of the doorway.

  “Ah, Ever Chace, I presume? My name is Dr. Patrick Stir, but please call me Patrick. Come right in, dear, and we can get started.”

  The uneasy sensation kicked up a notch, and Ever’s finger twitched. She realized that, like in her dreams, she had reached for the blade her dream-self kept at her waist. Blowing out a breath, she glanced at Ricky, whose eyes remained closed, and then followed the therapist into his room.

  Seizing the armchair closest to the window, Ever sank down, crossing one ankle over the other as she did. She rubbed her sweaty palms down the thighs of her jeans and waited as the pudgy man shuffled over to take the armchair opposite her. He pulled a file from the coffee table to his right and proceeded to glance through it before lifting his eyes to meet her own.

  There was something about those eyes that Ever felt like she knew.

  “I see that you’re in the process of becoming a member of the Paranormal Investigations Team and have consulted with them on a previous case where you faced down a killer. You also blacked out with no memory of what happened for a period of time. For someone who remembers everything, this must be quite distressing.”

  “You go right for the hard stuff, don’t you, Patrick?”

  Patrick inclined his head. “It is my job to ensure that you are mentally sound enough to join P.I.T. But if there is something else you would like to discuss, we can certainly talk about something else.”

  When Ever raised an eyebrow, he smiled.

  “Ever, I assure you that whatever we speak of here is confidential and will be shared with no one. All the department will receive is a recommendation as to whether you are fit to become an agent or not.”

  Ever folded her arms across her chest, a defensive manoeuvre, but she felt on edge, twitchy, which wasn’t like her.

  “My parents sent me to a counsellor when they told me I was adopted. It wasn’t a pleasant experience. That woman tried to convince my parents that my recall was due to a tumour in my brain, and she wanted to have my brain examined. When I overheard her on the phone telling someone that I’d make an excellent science experiment, she was struck off and I was never forced to see another therapist.”

  The man chuckled. “I assure you, Ever, that I only wish to help and have no intention of dissecting your brain in the name of science. One session is all I ask, and if I don’t live up to your expectations, I can recommend another colleague. How does that sound?”

  Ever considered his words and then nodded. “Okay.”

  “Good girl. Now, is there something in particular that you want to discuss?”

  Taking time to peer out the window before she spoke again, Ever felt compelled to open up about her fears as if by magic. She just had to get it out. “For the last few weeks, since I first started working with P.I.T., I’ve been having dreams and daydreams. They feel like memories, but I can’t help but think that one of my birth parents may have been mentally ill and I’ve inherited it.”

  Patrick leaned forward in his chair and clasped his fingers together. “When we experience change, we can create scenarios in our minds to try and make sense of the situation. When we suffer through stress with this change, our minds try their hardest to protect us from the trauma.” He flicked through the papers in her file. “What happened on your last case and gaining a mate in quick succession could have triggered some sort of coping mechanism. Are there any other things that these dreams are triggered by?”

  Ever sighed, remembering her reaction to Erika. “We gained a new team member, and I collapsed when I met her. She was in one of my dreams, and now I seem to put people I know as participants in those dreams.”

  “And are you quite certain that these are dreams and not memories of… a sort?”

  Patrick hesitated as if the words had gotten stuck in his mouth, and Ever gave him a weak smile.

  “I am terribly normal in a world of supernatural creatures, and I seem to have delusions of grandeur that I’m a…”

  She broke off, unable to say the words out loud in case Patrick actually did think she was crazy. Turning her head, she looked out the window again as the sun came out to warm the chilly day. Uncrossing her ankles, Ever rested an elbow on her knee and looked back at Patrick. Something in those eyes perplexed her.

  “Might I suggest something?”

  When she nodded, he continued.

  “How about we try and put you into a waking dream state so we can better understand what it is that might trigger these dreams? We might be able to help you control the dreams, in case this is due to anxiety, or we may learn whether it really is a way of coping with your current situation.”

  Ever blinked. “I suppose anything is worth a try.”

  Patrick got up to dim the lights, asking Ever to close her eyes and count backwards in her head from twenty. She did as she was asked and felt a brush of something over her forehead, but she relaxed. When she reached one, images punched through her mind and she gasped.

  “Tell me what you see, Ever.”

  “I’m running through some streets. I’m terrified.”

  A double-decker bus pulled out in front of her as she scrambled through the streets. She hoisted up her dress, the ruffles and lace very impractical, although she had ditched her shoes a couple of streets back. People cursed her as she bumped into them while she ran, but stopping now, pausing to apologize, could spell the end for her.

  She contemplated ducking into one of the stores, yet a voice inside her mind told her to avoid crowded places; too many people would witness her demise. She knew she was going to die, yet a spark of hope still bloomed in her heart that she would return to her lover’s arms this eve. Her bare feet stung as the cobbled streets scored her flesh.

  She wished she were elsewhere, that somebody out there could help her, save her from the man who’d been following her for an age, but she was alone. Derek had left this morn for work at the shipyard, and he would not notice her absence until he returned.

  She ran for what seemed like hours. As the afternoon became night, the darkness of the shadows no longer aided her, and as the streets emptied of people, an impending sense of doom crept over her skin.

  Her chest heaved as she tried to gulp in air, her pulse racing as she spun and ran into an alley. A high fence blocked her way, and she turned to find the man who had been chasing her sneering. Her eyes darted from side to side, searching for a means of escape.

  The man cackled as he came forward. “There is no way to escape, daughter.”

  “What do you see, Ever?”

  “There is a man, and he has me cornered. I know him, but I don’t remember him. He told me that I’m his daughter, but I never knew my father.”

  The wind gathered as the man continued to approach, and a tirade of memories cascaded over her as she took in his appearance and his words triggered all that she had forgotten. Shoulder-length, greying hair, a similarly greying beard, and a patch over his eye. She understood all at once—the deal, the quest, that this man, this monster in front of her, was her father. His name was Odin, and he had come to kill her.

  She screa
med, and the monster smiled. But she now remembered the rules, and he had broken them. He stalked forward, dragging a dagger along the wall as he came to stand in front of her. The sun gleamed off the dagger, and Ever held Odin’s gaze as he sank the blade into her chest. Blood gurgled from her mouth, and she grinned at him with bloodstained teeth.

  “You broke the rules, Odin. You called me daughter—told me who I was. Sleep, old man, for a hundred human years, and when I rise again, I will end you.”

  As the life drained from her, Odin leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

  “Seventh time’s the charm, Ever.” Then he sank the blade in again.

  A howl of despair sounded as Ever sank to the ground, her head cracking against the concrete. Her champion had found her, but he was far too late. He never remembered their past together, not until she allowed him inside her mind, and then she cried as he held her. This time they had only just met, and Derek hadn’t had the chance to remember who she was before Ever had been discovered by Odin.

  As blood seeped over the cream of her dress, she struggled to open her eyes. “I will find you sooner in my next life, my love.” And as her vision blurred, she witnessed her sisters stepping from the shadows and taking Odin into custody. They disappeared, leaving only her trusted general by her side.

  “It must be done,” she whispered.

  “Make it quick.”

  “Yes, My Queen.”

  Erika stepped forward, standing over Derek while he wept over her body. He didn’t notice as the Valkyrie warrior pulled her signature blade from her back and, with eyes closed, sliced the throat of her love to ensure they died together.

  Ever jerked out of her seat with a hand clasped over her mouth to stifle the scream that threatened to rip free of its own accord. Her hands trembled as she took the glass of water handed to her by Patrick. Taking a massive gulp, she then set the glass down on the table, but Ever couldn’t get the face of the man who had killed her out of her mind.

  “Are you okay? We didn’t get a chance for you to explain your dream, so now I feel we must discuss it.”