Luz eyed Damien with animosity as they entered the kitchen. “Are you going to require me here much longer?” she asked Kara. “I need to leave.”
“I know we’ve kept you late again. I’m so sorry, Luz.” Kara looked at Damien. “Any reason she can’t go?”
He leaned against the door frame, studying Luz. “Just a few questions. If you don’t mind.”
Sullenly, Luz picked up a tomato and a knife. “What do you want to know?”
“Do you work much with spirits?”
She shook her head, sliced the tomato with more force than necessary. “No. I deliver babies, compound herbs.”
“But you believe in them,” Damien persisted.
Alex, who had abandoned all pretense of doing his homework, darted his gaze between Luz and Damien. Kara went to sit next to him and put an arm around him. If the questioning got much scarier, she’d take him out of the kitchen.
“Of course I believe in them!” Luz snapped, with another thwack of the knife.
“Do you ever come across evil spirits?”
“A few. But the evil spirits I see are those that cause illness, bad luck, or a man’s pene to shrivel up.” Luz stared meaningfully at Damien’s crotch. “Sometimes it is deserved.”
“Mom,” Alex said in a loud whisper, “do you think she’s talking about his pe—”
Kara clamped her hand over his mouth. “Shhh. You’re interrupting. I’ll tell you later.”
“But I have never seen un espíritu show up from nowhere to torment a little boy.” Luz waved the knife in the air. “Not until you came.” She tossed the mangled tomato into the salad.
“I’ve been accused of worse.” Damien crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you sense anything truly evil in Alex’s room today?”
Luz considered, finally looked at Damien. With a sigh, she shook her head. “No. I’m not certain it was evil. I did not sense el Diablo. But it was wild, throwing books across the room.” She made the sign of the cross. “I’d never seen such a thing. My little man was so scared, me asustó.” She looked at Kara and Alex. “I’m sorry if I overreacted.”
“I’d have done the same thing.” Kara tightened her arm around Alex. “It must have been very scary.”
“Sí.” Luz wiped her hands on her apron and untied it. “If you are finished with your questions, I really must go.” She dropped a kiss on top of Alex’s head and murmured to him in Spanish. Damien stepped aside as she swept past him.
“Good night, Luz. Thank you for everything,” Kara called after her.
As they heard the sound of the front door closing behind Luz, Damien settled into the chair on the other side of Alex. He tapped the paper lying on the table. “What are you working on there?”
“Just some homework,” Alex muttered.
“Looks like math. Aren’t you too young to be doing that?”
Alex raised his chin. “I’m in first grade. We’ve been doing addition and subtraction since November.”
“That soon, huh? I guess kids start on the hard subjects at a younger age these days.”
“Math is easy,” Alex informed him. “But health is boring.” He shot a glance at Kara. “Sorry, Mom, but it is.”
“I didn’t like it, either,” Damien sympathized. “Why don’t you tell me what you did today to draw that discarnate?”
Kara felt Alex tense, saw his chin quiver, a sure sign he’d been up to something. “What’s a dis-car-nate?” he asked. She knew he was stalling.
“It’s another word for ghost.” Damien leaned forward, his gaze intent. “What did you do to call it?”
Alex stared down at his homework. “Nothing.”
“Alex,” Kara said in a warning tone.
“Nothing much.” He raised his head and looked at her. “I was just playing with…things.”
What had her son done? She felt herself starting up the roller coaster slope again, driven by returning panic. “What things?” she demanded.
“Just thoughts, just…moving some stuff around.”
“With your mind?” Damien interjected.
Alex nodded mutely.
“But Mr. Morgan and I told you not to do that.” Kara forced herself to speak calmly, although fear churned inside her. “He explained this to you last night. You promised you wouldn’t use your powers.”
Tears welled up in Alex’s eyes. “I know, Mom, I know,” he said, his voice wobbling. “And I kept my thoughts in the box all day at school, just like Mr. Morgan showed me.” He sniffled. “I waited until I got home and I was alone in my room. I only wanted to ‘speriment, to see what I could do.” The tears overflowed, and tracked down his cheeks. “I would never have done anything outside the house. Honest!”
Kara knew she was too upset to speak calmly and rationally right now. She shoved away from the table, and strode over to stare out the back door window, willing herself to calm down. The sun had set, and it was gray outside, not yet fully dark. She vaguely heard Max barking in a far corner of the yard.
“Alex,” came Damien’s calm voice from behind her. “Tell me what you were doing, and what happened after that.”
“Well…” Alex paused, and Kara could tell he was reluctant to tell Damien, probably afraid he was going to be punished.
“Tell Mr. Morgan what he wants to know,” she said, turning from the door. “I won’t get mad again.”
“Okay. I was just playing around with moving stuff.”
Damien leaned closer. “Tell me what you can do.”
Alex’s eyes lit up. “I can move lots of stuff. I look at something and imagine it in another spot. Like I ‘drove’ my model car across my desk without touchin’ it. I made my book slide over to me. I moved my shoe and scared Max. It was really frigid!” He looked at Kara, seemed to belatedly remember their earlier conversations. He looked down at the table. “Sorry, Mom.”
She didn’t need the cool warning glance Damien shot her to remind her not to overreact. “Just tell us everything, son.”
He fiddled with his pencil. “I was trying to shoot my thoughts to the tree outside my window to see if I could move the branches from inside the house.”
“Did it work?” Damien asked.
Alex brightened. “Yeah! It was iced. So I kept doin’ it for awhile.”
Kara walked to the table and sat down. She felt utterly drained. Why had she thought a six-year-old boy would be able to resist the lure of such powers?
“What happened then?” Damien pressed.
“I don’t know.” Alex looked at him with big eyes. “I was just watching the tree limbs shaking back and forth, and all at once, a book went flying off my shelf. It was lots faster than I could have moved it. Then my poster fell down, and my soccer award things started turning on the walls. Max went crazy and barked at lot. It was freaky.”
“Did you see or hear anything?”
“I didn’t see a form or a white blob, or anything like that. But I kept hearing a noise, like whispering. Like something was trying to talk to me.”
“What did it say?”
“I don’t know,” Alex’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I was too scared to listen. But it felt—” He hesitated.
“What did it feel like?” Damien urged.
“It felt like it was real excited or stirred up, like Max is when he sees you.”
“Kind of upset?” Kara suggested.
“Yeah. That’s it.” Alex nodded solemnly. “The ghost was upset, maybe frightened. Only ghosts don’t get frightened, do they?”
“I think ghosts can have the same feelings they had when they were alive,” Damien told him.
Alex considered that. “Will it come back?”
“Probably not if you don’t use your mind to move objects. That’s most likely what attracted its attention.”
“Oh.” Alex’s lower lip trembled. “Mom told me it was bad to move things or try to do any stuff with my mind.”
“It can be bad, if you don’t know how to properly c
ontrol your powers or shield yourself. But we’re working on the shielding, aren’t we?” Damien gave Alex’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze. “I know you didn’t mean to draw it here.”
Damien was good at that, Kara thought, knowing when it was appropriate to touch, when to offer physical comfort. He was a strange, dual combination of arrogance and sensitivity. But then, the Sentinel nature was chameleonlike and crafty, a necessity in dealing with both humans and Belians.
“How do I control my powers?” Alex asked.
Damien looked at Kara, his steely gaze locking with hers. “That’s something else we’re going to work on. But right now, I need to talk to your mother.”
Kara knew she wouldn’t have any valid arguments, or be able to counter his demands to work with Alex on his powers this time.
* * * *
I picked up another energy surge this afternoon, stronger than the previous ones. As before, it was not the pattern of a full-fledged Sentinel. It certainly wasn’t the other unknown Sentinel, may Belial curse his soul. But the power was there, and it came from the general vicinity of Virginia Avenue. And there was that energy spike yesterday, at the school. Interesting…
It appears we do indeed have a fledgling Sentinel in this backwash town. While my power is growing, I am limited by this pitiful shell of a body that I must endure. A fledgling would provide me with more power, and then I could get a new body. Belial will make it so.
Until then, I must have more energy. It is time to claim my next victim and shake up that Light-spawn Sentinel. I will make my move tonight, and they’ll never even know it was my handiwork.
I can hardly wait for the rush of the kill. As always, Belial provides for my needs. Glory to Belial, to the blood, and to the power of the darkness.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kara and Damien talked on the front porch because she didn’t want Alex overhearing their conversation. However, he was anxious about being in the house alone, so they brought Max inside. Damien assured Alex that Max would know and react immediately if any ghosts entered the house. Kara raised the blinds on the picture window and turned on the porch light, so Alex could keep them in sight.
She donned a warm jacket, ensuring Damien wouldn’t have to offer his duster again—and she wouldn’t be subjected to its alluring warmth and male scent. She sank onto the wooden glider, waited for him to join her.
“Do you really think that thing won’t come back?” she asked.
“I can’t make any guarantees. If it’s drawn to Alex and is trying to tell him something, it could return any time.”
“Is there anything you can do to keep it away? Put some protective energy around the house?”
“I’m a Sentinel, not an exorcist. I don’t go around chasing away ghosts.”
“I’m wondering now if it was a good idea for you to work with Alex. If you hadn’t told him he was a Sentinel and had powers, maybe he wouldn’t have experimented with them.”
Damien’s mouth thinned and his gaze bore into hers. “Wrong. He was bound to use his powers eventually, which could attract any number of entities. And there is a Belian in Zorro, whether or not you admit it. Sooner or later it will pick up on Alex. It’s time to acknowledge the reality of the situation and deal with it.”
The truth of his words deflated her protests, like the air leaving an inner tube. He was right.
“You don’t have any choice in the matter, not with Alex’s powers developing so rapidly,” he added quietly.
“I don’t understand how this happened. Alex promised me he wouldn’t do anything with his mind.”
“I’m sure he meant it. He appears to be a fine boy. But how can he control something if he doesn’t even know what it is, or how it works?” Damien leaned closer, his gaze intent. “Knowledge is power. The more Alex knows about his abilities, the more he can control them. The better he can protect himself. That’s why every young Sentinel is assigned a mentor if his or her parents are—if a Sentinel parent isn’t raising the child.”
She was certain he had started to say if the Sentinel parent or parents were dead, a strong possibility, as she well knew. Chilled, she pulled her knees up and huddled into her legs.
“I need to work with Alex on using his powers,” Damien said. “So he can learn how to properly control them and protect himself from Belians and discarnate entities.”
She could see his point all too clearly, and she hated it. But denying the reality could only put Alex in danger. “All right,” she said tiredly. “But only for control and protection—no tracking energies. I still want to be present whenever you’re with Alex.”
“There’s one more thing we need to do.”
Anticipating him, she was already shaking her head. “No.”
He grasped her shoulders and turned her toward him, his gaze boring through her eyes and into her soul. “Yes, Kara. Yes. You’ve got to conduct for me. It’s my best chance of catching this Belian and keeping it from sensing Alex.”
Fear for Alex, and pain from the past, rushed over her. She was torn between a mother’s fierce need to protect her child, and the preservation of her soul. She wanted Alex safe more than anything, but how could she take care of him, be there to protect him, if she was mentally and spiritually devastated? Conducting for Damien would take her back down the path that had almost destroyed her seven years ago.
She stared at him, paralyzed by the past. “I can’t do it,” she whispered. “I just can’t. There has to be another way to protect Alex.”
He shook his head with a frustrated growl, released her. “All right, then. We’ll concentrate on Alex. For now. But the time will come, Kara, when you won’t have any choice in the matter.”
She knew he was right—her reprieve from the terror of Birmingham was just temporary. But as long as Alex wasn’t in the direct path of the Belian, she simply didn’t have the courage to face the past yet.
Not that her cowardice changed anything. With Alex’s growing powers, they were moving closer to a Sentinel’s existence. And she could only watch helplessly as their lives were irrevocably altered.
* * * *
The dreams returned that night.
The surreal feel of being suspended out of body permeated Kara, and she knew on some deep instinctive level—as she always did, even while asleep—that this was a precognitive vision in the form of a dream. No! her mind screamed. She thrashed and tried to break the bubble of the dream. Tried desperately to force herself to consciousness.
Her efforts were futile, as they had always been. Trapped within the vision, she could see everything happening in crystal clear real time, as if she were watching a movie, only she was drawn into the action.
A person was moving down a dark hallway that looked vaguely familiar. Kara followed behind, unable to see the person’s face. The bulky overcoat and dark pants and outline of some sort of cap on the head gave the person a masculine look, so she assumed it was a man she followed.
He radiated malevolence; a black, terrifyingly familiar aura surrounded him. Kara had seen auras like that on several occasions, when she had been conducting for Richard. This man—this monster—was a Belian. She wanted to turn and run, to escape this essence of pure evil, but she was under the dictates of the dream. She could only follow; would be an observer no matter how much she resisted.
His feet, encased in boots, made no sound on the lush carpet. He reached an open doorway, paused, listened. She listened, too, heard the sound of steady breathing. Someone sleeping, so it must be a bedroom. He entered, and she followed. A night-light was plugged into the right wall, sending a low glow over the furniture and a figure in the bed.
She didn’t recognize the room. The man moved to the figure in the bed. A woman with light-toned hair lay there, facing the opposite wall, her features hidden.
Familiarity stirred, yet Kara couldn’t place the woman. The man turned slightly, and she saw he wore a baseball cap, pulled down low over his face. She could see only his
silhouette in the dim lighting, couldn’t identify him.
“Who are you?” she asked, horror crawling through her. He might have a human body and a human name, might be someone she knew. But he was really the Devil incarnate. “What are you doing here?”
Ignoring her, he reached into the pocket of his coat with a hand encased in a flexible black leather glove, and drew out two objects. He deftly popped something off one object, then held up a small bottle, and placed the object against one end. Kara realized it was a syringe and some sort of drug he held. Dread pounded with every beat of her racing heart.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.
He leaned over the sleeping woman, pushed up the sleeve of her gown. The material was a light-colored background, Kara noticed absurdly, covered with little cup and saucer motifs. The man placed the hypodermic against the woman’s upper arm.
“Stop!” Kara ordered sharply, panicked. “You have no right to do this!” But she was frozen in place, unable to move or impede his actions in any way.
Giving no response, the man injected the woman’s arm. Oh God, oh God, oh God, don’t let this happen, Kara implored as she watched, impotent in the throes of the vision. She knew, with every fiber of her being, that she was witnessing an atrocious act. And she could do nothing, nothing …
Gasping for breath, Kara surged upright in bed. Her heart was pounding. She shook uncontrollably. Still unable to catch her breath, she looked around wildly. She was in her own bed, in her own room. Alex, too frightened to sleep alone, was sprawled next to her, his covers kicked off. Numbly, she covered her son, then curled around him, trying to console herself with his warmth and life energy. He didn’t stir.
She prayed fervently to an ambiguous, distant God, asking for protection against the evil forces epitomized by the man in her vision. She prayed for the soul of the woman in the vision, knowing that soul was likely now winging its way from the Earth plane. She hadn’t been able to see the woman’s face, had no idea who had just been the latest victim of a Belian. Just as bad, she didn’t have a clue on the identity of the Belian.
Basically, her vision was worthless, although she had no doubt of its accuracy. Despite her adherence to scientific data and logical explanations, her dream visions had always been eerily prophetic. This was just another horrific experience to add to those of the past few days.
Touched by Darkness – An Urban Fantasy Romance (Book 1, The Sentinel Series) Page 9
