Touched by Light

by Spangler, Catherine

  “Luke, contact university security and have them look for Julia and to stay with her if they locate her. Then get Stamos over to the university. If she’s there, I want him to notify me, then relieve the security people and wait with her until I get there. I don’t want you to go, because I don’t want Marla left alone, and I don’t want her at the university, in case Bennett is there. I’m heading to Julia’s house now. Call me if you hear anything, and I’ll do the same.”

  “Will do.”

  Adam clicked off and felt fear chipping at his normal icy control. But he had to remain calm and focused. Julia’s life could depend on it.

  FOLLOWING Julia was ridiculously easy. She didn’t appear to be aware of him, and he was able to stay right behind her. He dropped back a little after they exited the freeway, slowing even more when she entered a subdivision. He stayed well back then, but kept her in sight. When she pulled into the driveway of a modest, beige brick house, he smiled. Home, sweet home, but not for long.

  She waited as the garage door started upward. William parked in front of the house next to hers and got out of the car. She pulled into the garage, and he ran to the side of it, which was on the right end of the house. He looked into the garage as the door started down. Julia was still in the car. The driver side was away from him, and closest to the interior door.

  He ducked down and scooted in between the right side of the car and the wall. If she came around to the trunk or to his side, he could simply slip around to the front of the car. But she didn’t. As the garage door finished closing, she got out, opened the back door on her side, and got her purse, cane, and briefcase. Then she limped into the house.

  Elation filled him. He had her now, the lying whore. There were no other cars in front of the house, so he didn’t know if anyone else lived here, but if they did, he’d deal with them. He rather hoped to run into her bitch sister again. It had been fun having her witness Julia’s punishment the first time. He moved to the door going into the house, waited a beat, then opened it.

  He was in a kitchen, small and neat, done in yellow and white, with glossy beige floor tiles. Aw, isn’t that homey? He heard a high-pitched beeping that indicated an alarm system. He also heard Julia talking to someone and he tensed. Moving silently through the kitchen, he peered around the corner. Julia had her back to him and was moving down a hallway.

  “Let me reset the alarm, Ike, and I’ll get you some Fancy Feast.”

  What the—? Hearing a loud meow, he lowered his gaze and saw a large, long-haired Siamese cat following right behind her. Relaxed again. Just a fucking cat. She opened a closet door. He came around the corner and moved quickly after her, the thick carpet muffling his footsteps. The beeping stopped, which meant she had cancelled the alarm response.

  Before she could reset it, he grabbed the closet door and slammed it back against the wall. She whirled toward him with a startled gasp.

  “Hello, Julia,” he said.

  TWENTY

  SHE was terrified. The fear penetrated her bones, her cells, down to her very core. It felt like she was dissolving into a backwash of hideous memories. When Bennett grabbed the door and slung it against the wall, she’d been stunned for a moment, her brain deadlocked in the this-can’t-possibly-be-happening mode.

  Then reality set in. Adrenaline flooded her body, shock freezing her muscles in rigor mortis mode. Her lungs stopped working; the pounding of her heart roared in her ears. The horror paralyzed her like a deer in headlights. Bennett grabbed her and slammed her against the opposite wall. The pain of that brought her situation home. It also shattered the paralysis, jump started her brain.

  She swung her cane at him, but prison had honed him, making him fast. He sidestepped, grabbed her arm, and twisted viciously. She cried out, the cane slipping from her nerveless fingers. He kicked it away. “Bitch,” he hissed. “Did you really think you could hide from me?”

  She stared at him, her chest heaving. Oh, God, help me get out of this.

  “Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?” he taunted. “That I wouldn’t make you pay for what you did to me?”

  She made a split-second decision—she wasn’t giving in to her fear, wasn’t going to cower before this monster. She’d done that twelve years ago. Now, she was made of stronger stuff, forged in the hellfires of pain and a battered psyche. She was a fighter and a survivor. Instinctively, she went for Bennett’s ego. He’d react with violence, but rage clouded logic, enabled mistakes. All she needed was an opening to get her gun from her coat pocket.

  “No,” she said. “I expected you to rot and die in prison, you bastard.”

  Rage flashed across his face. He backhanded her, slamming her head sideways into the wall. “You’ll pay for that, too.”

  Clenching her teeth against the pain, she slowly turned her head back to face him. She looked straight into his soulless eyes. Instead of fear, she now felt intense hatred. “You’re not even worthy of name-calling. You’re too low a life-form, below amoeba status.”

  When he moved in, she was ready, slamming her knee into his testicles. She tried to twist out of his grasp, but he managed to hurl her to the floor. Gasping, he fell back against the closet doorjamb. “You goddamned bitch!”

  She flipped over and fumbled for her gun. He rushed her and landed a brutal kick to her side. The agonizing burn signaled broken ribs and ripped a scream from her throat. It took all her willpower to keep her focus.

  “You’ll pay for that one, too. You can’t escape what I have planned.” He leaned down, grabbed her coat and yanked.

  She cried out again as he jerked her to her feet. God, it hurts.

  His eyes glittered, feral and insane. “Oh, it will be worse,” he promised. “Much worse. The fun is just beginning.”

  She had to stay calm, had to think. She struggled against the debilitating fear and pain clouding her mind. She had to fight it, had to fight him. Think, think! Make him mad, keep him off balance. Get the gun. Bennett dragged her farther down the hallway, and agony screamed along every nerve ending. She bit her lip to keep from crying out, tasted blood.

  “Ah, here’s the bedroom.” He yanked her inside, sent her stumbling. “I could pound you to bloody bits in the hallway,” he continued. “But I need more space to do the job right. Besides, the bed is handy. Because before I kill you, bitch, I’m going to fuck you. Every way possible.”

  No. No! Panic swept through her like a wildfire. Oh, God, she was going to be sick. She couldn’t go through that again. She’d shoot herself first. But Bennett was gripping her right arm, the side where the gun was pocketed. She had to wait to get it.

  A loud, plaintive meow came from behind them. Ike, demanding his dinner. Bennett swung around. “Fuckin’ cat. I hate the damned things.” He kicked the cat, sent him flying four feet.

  “Ike,” Julia gasped, her heart in her throat.

  Bennett shot her an evil grin. “Like him, do you? Well, isn’t that sweet? Maybe I’ll have some entertainment with the furball. Kind of like an appetizer before the main course. But before I make kitty cutlets, gotta make sure you don’t cause any trouble.” He swung back, smashed his fist into her face.

  The blow sent her reeling backward. He punched her again, and she toppled. The force of hitting the floor knocked the breath out of her. Pain flooded her face and ribs, so intense she thought she might black out. She couldn’t stop the moans as she curled into herself.

  “There, now. That’s nice dinner music.” He leaned down, pulled a butcher knife from his boot. “Handy that my stupid brother likes to cook. Stocks his kitchen with lots of sharp implements.” He walked toward Ike. “Here, kitty, kitty. You piece-of-shit furball.”

  The horror of his intent broke her. “No,” she pleaded. “Bennett—William—please don’t do anything to Ike.” Tears filled her eyes as she watched Ike slink beneath the bed. This was a nightmare beyond imagining. She couldn’t bear it. “Leave him alone, and I-I’ll make it worth your while.”

  “Oh, gu
tting the cat and fucking and killing you will all be worth my while.” Bennett reached under the bed. “Got cha!”

  Ike yowled as Bennett started dragging him out by the tail. Tears overflowed Julia’s eyes. She was helpless, lying in a pool of pain. Wait—the gun! She struggled onto her left side, fumbled in her coat pocket. God bless concealed weapons. She pulled out her Beretta, clicked off the safety.

  “Bennett! Look at me, you scumbag son of a bitch.”

  He swung around, jerking up a howling cat in one hand, the knife in the other. Fury and insanity twisted his face into that of a monster.

  “Go to hell,” Julia said. She pulled the trigger.

  IT took Adam way too long to get to Julia’s house. Traffic was gridlocked, and there wasn’t a damned thing he could do about it. He kept trying her cell and home phones, getting voice mail on both. That doesn’t mean anything, he told himself. She might have forgotten to turn her cell phone back on.

  He knew she wasn’t at the university. Both security and Stamos had reported her office empty and locked. The security tape of the staff garage showed her getting into her car and leaving over an hour ago. She could be home, and screening her calls to avoid him. Or she might be running errands. Or at the Red Lion Pub, drowning out recent events—and him.

  He tried to remain objective and analyze the situation. Since Bennett didn’t have a car, it was virtually impossible for him to follow Julia. He might be savvy enough to stake out the university, get her license plate, and find her address by digging on the Internet. But her address on record was the university—Adam had checked.

  So Bennett couldn’t follow Julia or find her home address—theoretically. Yet all of Adam’s internal alarms were on full alert, his psychic antennae screaming that something was very wrong. He just didn’t know where to look.

  He’d start with her home, and go from there. He finally exited the freeway then broke all the speed limits getting through the subdivision. He pulled in her driveway, killed the engine, and leaped from the Mercedes. She had a solid-paneled garage door, so he couldn’t check for her car. He strode quickly to the front door, started manipulating the locks.

  The sound of a gunshot inside the house sent a lightning strike of panic through him. No time to deal with the two dead bolts. He stepped back, threw out his hand, and blasted the door with pure power. It shattered, and he stepped over the debris, drawing his gun. The living room was empty. He didn’t call out. He didn’t know the situation, didn’t want to broadcast his presence—although the door blast had already done that.

  His heart was pounding, his breathing ragged, very unusual for him. He forced himself to calm and go into full Sanctioned mode as he focused and searched for Julia’s energy. There—in the rear of the house. He superspeeded down the hall to the bedroom. Stepping into the doorway, he aimed his gun into the room.

  His heart almost stopped. Bennett was on his back on the floor, gasping for breath. His eyes were glazed with shock and pain. Blood oozed from a hole in his chest, and pooled beneath him. Kneeling beside him, her trench coat dragging in the blood, Julia had both hands clasped around the butt of her Beretta. The barrel was pointed at Bennett’s forehead, just inches above it. Her tear-tracked face was battered. Her body was shaking violently.

  Adam stepped into the room, lowering the gun. “Julia.”

  “I’m going to kill him.” Her voice was ragged, her eyes wild. “I’m going to send him straight to hell.”

  He thanked The One she was alive. “You’ve already injured him. He’s down. You defeated him. I think that’s enough.”

  “No!” Hysteria tinged her voice. “Even sending him to hell isn’t enough.” Fresh tears slid down her face. “He hit me and kicked me. Told me he was going to r-rape me again. Then he tried to kill Ike.”

  Adam fought back the urge to slowly dismember Bennett and let him bleed out. With great effort, he subdued his own fury. He had to focus on Julia, on what this might do to her. A quick scan of the room showed Ike crouching warily between the nightstand and the wall.

  He took a step closer. “But he didn’t do either of those things, did he?” Surely Bennett hadn’t succeeded in raping Julia this time—she was completely dressed. But if he had—

  “No. Not this time. But he-he hurt me.” She looked at him, her eyes anguished. “He’s a monster. He can’t go free again. I have to do this.”

  Her face was swollen and bruised, and a black eye was forming. She had to be in tremendous pain. Adam’s anger resurged. He wanted to pull the trigger himself, but he knew this wasn’t the solution. “Bennett won’t go free, Julia. He’s violated parole, attacked you again. They’ll put him away for good this time.”

  “No, they won’t.” Her voice rose again. “The system doesn’t work. The only way to deal with monsters is to execute them.”

  And the cost to her soul would be exorbitant. He took another step. He could paralyze her or deflect the gun. But it wasn’t his call, since Bennett wasn’t an innocent, which would necessitate Adam’s protection. Instead, it was Julia’s choice. Free will.

  “Listen to me, Julia. Killing him is not the way. It will be a mark against your karma, will take a piece of your soul.”

  “I don’t care!” Her finger tightened on the trigger. “You do executions. You kill physical bodies of Belians and send their souls to Saturn.”

  “We do that only because there’s no other way to stop them. If Bennett survives this chest wound, he’ll go to prison for the rest of his life. That’s hell on Earth.”

  She shook her head, set her mouth. Pressed the barrel against Bennett’s forehead. His eyes widened, and he tried to speak, but was too weak to move.

  “I love you, Julia.”

  She jolted in shock, looked from Bennett to him. “Damn it, Adam! Why are you doing this?”

  He took another step and locked his gaze with hers. “Because I know if you kill Bennett, you’ll regret it for eternity. And because it’s true. I do love you.” He meant it. It wasn’t just a dictate from the Universe; it was a personal truth.

  He could see reason returning to her, warring with her fierce need for vigilante justice. “You’re just saying that because you didn’t get any sex for two hundred years,” she muttered.

  Relief loosened the death grip on his heart. “There’s that, too.” He held out his hand. “You have free will, and you decide how this ends. I’m asking you to choose grace over revenge. To give me the gun.”

  She hesitated, looked back at Bennett. “I’ve never hated anyone before, but I hate him. I hate his guts.”

  “With good reason. But that doesn’t mean you should sink to his level. Don’t let him destroy your soul, Julia. Rise above it. Give me the gun. Please.”

  Tears rolled slowly down her cheeks as she stared at Bennett. “Rot in jail,” she said to him, then handed the gun to Adam.

  He blew out the breath he’d been holding. “Good choice.”

  Swaying, she wrapped her arms around herself. She was deathly pale, her face pinched with pain. “Yes, well, I think we should go to the hospital now.”

  She proceeded to pass out, and he moved to catch her. And wasn’t it an odd coincidence that as he rose, holding her, his foot just happened to slam into Bennett?

  Must be the Universe at work.

  JULIA opened her eyes, blinked at the clock. Ten AM? She jolted up in a panic. How had it gotten so late? She never overslept. She had to get dressed and get to the university and—Wait. She looked around the blurred room. Got her glasses from the nightstand, put them on and took in the rich furnishings of the obscenely opulent bedroom. Then it came to her. She was at the Four Seasons Hotel, in Adam’s suite, and today must be Sunday.

  Turning her head, she saw the dent in the pillow next to hers. Funny, but she didn’t recall going to bed last night, and she certainly didn’t remember sleeping with anyone—in this case, Adam. Obviously, he’d been up to his woo-woo crap again. It was her own fault, since she had allowed him to bring her
to the hotel.

  After leaving the hospital yesterday morning, she’d been too wounded, emotionally and physically, to return to her house. Besides, it was being cleaned, and the carpet in her hallway and bedroom replaced, and the front door fixed. Marla was on the hunt for a new comforter set for the bed. Adam had found contractors to do the work at a moment’s notice, which wasn’t a surprise.

  She should have gone to Luke and Marla’s house instead, but it had been too much effort to argue with Adam. Friday night had been a blur of pain, ER doctors and nurses, police, Marla and Luke, and of course, Adam. She’d been scanned for internal bleeding, had her broken ribs taped, and kept overnight for observation.

  She’d decided Demerol was a great thing, even while swearing off hospitals for the rest of her life. Adam had stayed with her, after convincing Marla he was the best choice, and done his own versions of pain management and healing throughout the night.

  Julia spent yesterday here with him. She had to admit he’d taken amazing care of her, channeling more healing and pain relief energies, and ordering in her favorite foods—including Godiva chocolate and vintage merlot. He’d even given her a foot massage. She wished she had a picture of that—she could blackmail him with it. Not that anyone would believe it.

  But the best thing he’d done for her was to simply be there. He hadn’t pushed her to talk, but had listened intently when she did. He hadn’t pressured her in any way, made any more crazy claims about her being his perfect match. Hadn’t said he loved her again. That still had her shaken, although she was of two schools of thought about it.

  One was that she’d imagined him saying it. She’d been in shock and her memory of Friday’s events were murky. The other thought was that he’d said it to distract her and get the gun. Either way, it didn’t mean anything. It couldn’t, which was for the best.