Psychic Storm: Ten Dangerously Sexy Tales of Psychic Witches, Vampires, Mediums, Empaths and Seers

by Deanna Chase

  Kate cut her off, “Mom, I think we may be over-sharing here.”

  “Anyway,” she continued pointedly, “I know Jared is your first boyfriend in a long time and you’re somewhat inexperienced with men.”

  That was an understatement. At eighteen, she had only one serious boyfriend for a couple of months that dumped her right after they had sex. In high school, she had dated a few boys but had always avoided going too far with them. Her background didn’t exactly qualify her as an expert on men.

  Kate gave her mother a nod to continue. Her mother bit her lip before continuing, “And I just have a fear if you spend too much time with this boy, both your pants and your self-respect will end up on the floor.”

  “Mom…” she stammered out. It took Kate a minute to recover from her mom’s shocking statement. “Don’t worry. It’s only a psychic friend thing with Declan. My heart belongs to Jared.”

  “That’s good to hear because sometimes you keep thinking there’s something better out there and miss what’s standing right in front of you.”

  By the sound of her voice, Kate realized her mom was speaking from personal experience. She hoped it wasn’t about her father. Her mother went through a difficult time with the divorce—especially when her father’s infidelity was revealed. Although her parents were civil to each other, Kate still had some residual anger over the way her dad had treated her mother.

  Kate’s thoughts were interrupted by the chime of her cell phone. Kate grabbed the phone from the counter and saw a text message alert from an unrecognized number.

  They found Max. I can’t talk now, but I’ll call you as soon as I can. You’re an angel on earth and you have my everlasting gratitude. Farrah Santo

  She turned to her mother. “It’s a message from Max’s mom! They found him!”

  Without a second’s hesitation, her mother engulfed Kate in her arms. Smoothing down her hair, she whispered, “You’re amazing, you know that?”

  Tears sprang to Kate’s eyes. Her mother could make her feel special and less of a freak at moments like this. Like what she could do was miraculous and didn’t make her an outcast. “I finally feel like I’m on the right path and this is what I need to do.”

  She cupped Kate’s face in her hands. “You’re going to use your gifts to help so many people in this world.”

  “No pressure or anything,” she cracked with a half sob. Wiping at her tears, she took a shaky breath before speaking. “I’m going to check out the computer and see if there’s anything about Max online.”

  There were so many questions in her head. Did they have Ally in custody? How was Max doing? With a quick peck on her mother’s cheek, she headed to their den to scour the internet for as much information about Max as possible.

  About fifteen minutes later, her mother wandered into the den. Kate sat perfectly still with tears running down her face. “Katie, what’s wrong?”

  She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the screen. It was a photograph from a local newspaper. It was taken yesterday after Max had been found and reunited with his mom. He was wrapped around his mother’s waist and tears of joy were visible on Farrah Santo’s face.

  Max had no tears. His face was haunted, probably with memories of his time with Ally Seldon. His eyes stared into space as if he was disconnected from reality. He had a black eye as well. Something Kate had yet to witness in her visions and couldn’t fathom what type of monster would do that to a helpless child.

  Her stomach heaved as she read the accompanying story. Max had been taken by Ally at the mall when the boy wandered off from his grandmother. She had pretended to be a caretaker appointed by his mom and kept the boy docile with physical violence. Since the family lived in Blaine, which bordered Canada, authorities had thought the abductor had somehow snuck out of the country with Max. In reality, Ally had taken Max two hours south to an apartment in Seattle. She had rented the apartment under a false name. This was the reason Max wasn’t located immediately after Kate had given the police Ally’s name and history.

  The extent of the abuse was being kept under wraps and the boy was meeting with child psychologists for counseling. Ally was arrested and also meeting with mental health professionals. Her ex-husband Lincoln cooperated with police and helped them track down Ally. He explained his ex-wife had become violent and unpredictable following the death of their son less than a year ago. However, in the newspaper article, he expressed shock over how much she had lost touch with reality. The tip about Ally being involved in Max’s abduction was credited as coming from an anonymous source.

  “Katie?” her mom prompted in a worried tone. She walked closer and Kate breathed in her perfume as a way to comfort her.

  Kate couldn’t find the words to explain why the visual of Max was affecting her in this way. “It’s a story about Max,” she stammered as she wiped at her face. Looking over her shoulder, her mom scanned the article. Darlene’s frown deepened as she took several minutes to read the story.

  “There are people in this world that are truly reprehensible,” her mother breathed. She gave her an awestruck look. “It’s a miracle you were able to save the boy. She probably would have killed him eventually if it wasn’t for you.”

  At that moment Kate didn’t feel like a savior. If anything, she felt like she had failed Max. She should have been able to find him sooner. While she’d been living her life and making out with her boyfriend, a little boy had been suffering. Kate should’ve donated every free minute to finding him. Rising to her feet, she almost knocked the office chair to the floor. “I have to talk to Declan.”

  “Katie, what’s going on?”

  “I should be working on controlling my gifts. I might have been able to find him before she laid a hand on him!” Kate cried and grabbed her purse.

  Her mother reached for her and gave her a stern look. “Don’t do this to yourself. There are terrible people in this world that do horrendous things, even to children. You can’t save everyone.”

  “I sure as hell can try.”

  Chapter Ten

  The drive to Declan’s house was a blur. Once she pulled up to the address she checked her phone three times to make sure she got it right. She was expecting a small apartment or maybe an older row house in the city. His house was nice. Really nice. She was certain Declan had mentioned he lived alone. It baffled her to imagine how an unemployed twenty-one year old afforded a Hummer and a suburban two bedroom home.

  Declan seemed unfazed when she texted him to announce her impromptu visit. He sent her his address without asking for an explanation or the reason she urgently needed to see him. Kate could never be that laidback of a person.

  Declan greeted her at the door after Kate rang the doorbell twice. His eyes were tired and his clothing rumpled. She gave him a tight smile. “Did I wake you?”

  He stifled a yawn. “I fell back asleep after I got your message. Didn’t sleep well last night. Finally conked out after five.”

  “Did you have a vision?”

  He waved off her question. “Yeah, but nothing about Max’s case. Do you want to come in?”

  The interior put her more at ease. It wasn’t a complete crap hole, but it wasn’t as immaculate as her mom kept their home. Cereal boxes cluttered the kitchen counters, a few dishes were left in the sink, extra blankets on the couch. A pile of clothes were pushed to the side of the living room. It made her visualize it being a collection of castoffs from the girls Declan brought home. She put her purse down on his kitchen table and took a seat.

  “Thanks for letting me just barge in on you like this,” Kate started.

  “Your text said it’s important. What’s up?”

  She sighed and stared out of the window. “They found Max yesterday. Of course, I’m happy about it, but I feel…”

  His dark eyes watched her with intensity. As reluctant as she wanted to admit it, she had developed a connection with Declan. No one else could possibly understand what it was like to have no control over the things th
at ran through your head. Invading people’s thoughts was never a skill she would wish on anyone.

  Regaining focus, Kate continued, “I just feel that I should’ve been working harder to find him. I should have been freaking meditating for hours each day until he was found.”

  Declan shook his head in disagreement. “Kate, you need to live your life too.”

  Kate didn’t deviate from the speech she had planned in the car on the way over to Declan’s house. “The reason I came here was because I want to know everything you do. No more bullshit. Lie all of your cards on the table right now.”

  Kate met his eyes and tried to convey how deadly serious she was. If he had some tricks up his sleeve, she wanted to know them. If she was going to be stuck with these powers, she better at least start learning if there was a way to decide whose memories she could access.

  He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his palms over the scruff on his face. He folded his hands in front of him and then gave a tight nod. He was mentally weighing something in his mind and seemed to come to a decision before answering.

  “Maybe we should talk about this another time,” he suggested. “When you’re less emotional.”

  “Jesus Declan, just let me know the damn secret psychic handshake already.”

  He nodded. “It’s not exactly a secret…and there’s not much else I can tell you about controlling your powers.” Declan stopped talking for a long minute. Finally, he muttered, “But there is something I haven’t told you yet.”

  She leaned forward and gave him a piercing stare. “Just give me a straight answer. Why did you want to meet me?”

  “It’s nothing bad, if that’s what you’re thinking. It’s just…” he stopped and then asked, “Remember how I told you being psychic is my job?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I thought it was a joke.”

  “Well, it wasn’t. The reason I found you was because I thought maybe we could work together.”

  “Work together?” she parroted back. Kate gave him a sardonic smile as she imagined the possibilities. “Like host a joint psychic show and say things like, ‘Someone who passed is in this room with us. His name begins with the letter R and he says he’s sorry he didn’t get a chance to say goodbye.’ Because lucky enough, talking to dead people is not one of my psychic skills.”

  Declan’s laugh was forced. He leaned back into the kitchen chair directly across from her. “No, that wouldn’t be it.” He bit his lower lip before continuing. “I don’t think it’s came up, but I don’t have a relationship with my family.”

  Yikes, she thought, she was really a terrible friend. In the days they spent together, she never asked any questions about him or his personal life. Kate had no clue if he had any siblings or where he went to school. Between psychic coaching sessions, Declan had made it a point to get to know her. It made her feel like maybe she was just using him because of what he had to psychically offer.

  Kate’s rationalization was she’d been afraid of developing too close of a relationship with him. Each moment she spent with Declan and away from Jared made her feel guilty. If he hadn’t made that revelation about his future vision, Kate probably wouldn’t have felt on edge and confused in his presence.

  “Anyway,” he continued when she didn’t reply. “A few years back, I found myself at a pretty low point. My family had kicked me out of my house and I had no job experience since the past year had been spent in rehab for my ski accident. Hell, I never even finished high school.

  “But I did have one thing that I could do. I was able to have these visions,” he explained. She bobbed her head which prompted him to continue speaking. “Well, at that point, I didn’t have any future premonitions. Without being able to tell the future, it’s harder to find a way to make money using our gift. That was until I realized I could help find the missing.” His brown eyes met hers from across the table and his pitch rose as he asked, “Have you ever seen the reward amounts being offered by families that are looking for someone?”

  Kate’s grimace didn’t seem to damper his enthusiasm as he persisted without waiting for her to answer his question. “The figures are astronomical. Some rewards could cover a person’s salary for a year!” He turned around and gestured to his Hummer outside the window. “Guess how I paid for that? I got 40K for bringing home a twelve-year-old boy that was abducted in Texas.”

  Her hazel eyes followed his gaze out of the kitchen window. “Sounds like you’re doing fine without me. Why do you need help?”

  “Because you know how our gift works. It’s not perfect and there’s no guarantee you’ll be able to see what you need to. I figure two psychics are better than one. We could work more cases plus have a higher success rate. Whatever money we get, we could split fifty-fifty.” Declan finished his explanation with a self-satisfied smirk. It was implicit that he had worked out this set-up in his head before they had even met.

  He had rendered her speechless. In all the potential scenarios she ran through her mind, this scenario was something Kate had never suspected. “So, why not just tell me what you wanted in the first place?”

  “I wanted to be certain it would work out first. I had to make sure you were legitimate and how talented you were. You don’t have a long history of being involved in police cases, so I didn’t know if you could be of any help. Now I realize you were just a recluse for a few years.” He tried to laugh, but stopped when he met her humorless expression. “Well, I think you do have plenty of potential. With some practice, we’ll be unstoppable. We may end up pulling in well over six figures in no time.”

  Kate had reached her limit. “But that’s so wrong,” she forced out.

  His body language turned cold. With his arms crossed his chest, he barked out. “What’s so wrong?”

  “To use people’s misery for your own financial gain,” she retorted.

  “I should’ve known you would react like this,” he mumbled. He rose from his chair and flattened his palms against the table.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “You’re so judgmental! Our visions bring us misery; the people around us think we’re full of shit, why shouldn’t we get something from all of this?”

  “But shouldn’t we just help people because it’s the right thing to do? Shouldn’t our gifts be used for altruistic purposes?”

  He snorted. “You really are living in a fairytale. Who knows the reason we came back from the dead this way? We can’t assume we’re meant to use our visions for good. There’s just as much chance our psychic powers came from something evil.”

  Kate swallowed hard as he voiced one of her fears. Her mother believed a divine being gifted her with psychic abilities. However, when Kate’s thoughts turned darker, she wondered if something more sinister could be responsible.

  “That’s such a jaded way of thinking,” Kate accused. “I don’t want a cash reward for bringing someone back to their family. I do it because it feels good to help others.”

  “And what about wanting something more for yourself? You go to a community college and slave away at a minimum wage job.” His biting summary of her life caused her to flinch in response. Declan was working himself into a fervor and didn’t seem to care about the hurtful words he was slinging at her. “What are your hopes for the future? Stay in Franklin for the rest of your life and hope your small town detective marries you? You’re meant for more than that. With the amount of money we can get our hands on, we can live whatever life we want.”

  “I’m happy with my life, thank you very much,” Kate snapped. “Maybe if you were happier with yours, you would realize how wrong you are.”

  “Then, I guess we’re done here.”

  Kate was again taken aback by his tone. He was making her feel like she was the one who was wrong. However, how could she agree to be involved with someone who only wanted to use their gifts for monetary gain? What if they came across a case where a reward wasn’t offered? Would he not help because the people weren’t going to pay them?
Her conscious would never allow her to do something like that.

  Wordlessly, Kate exited the kitchen. Declan followed close on her heels and opened the front door before she had the chance to reach the knob. Regret set in as she wondered if this could be goodbye forever. She began, “Declan, we could still be friends…”

  He cut her off. “Sorry, I’m taking back both the job offer and the offer to help you control your visions. I have enough people in my life who look down on me—I don’t need another one. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.”

  Any loss she felt over the ending of their friendship dissipated. A cold fury made her want to smack him across the face. “Sorry I’m not completely morally bankrupt.”

  His laugh was harsh. “Take a long look in the mirror before you try and judge me. If I remember hearing correctly, didn’t you start sleeping with the detective who was investigating the disappearance of his girlfriend’s sister?”

  “Go to hell,” she breathed. Stalking over to her car, she glared at him one last time. Mockingly, she called, “Thought we were supposed to end up together, future boy?”

  In reply, he flipped her the bird and slammed the front door.

  The one upshot of being starved was it cooled her anger quickly. It was kind of hard to be livid when Kate could barely keep her eyes open. After leaving Declan’s house, Kate camped out on the couch and caught up on two weeks worth of shows recorded on her DVR. Watching TV helped distract her from both not eating for the day and the argument with Declan. An hour before her movie date with Jared, she gained enough motivation to take a shower and throw on a pair of jeans and a tank top. Deciding she looked way too boring for a date with her new boyfriend, she dressed up the outfit with a funky gold necklace and matching hoop earrings.

  Jared’s arms around her when he arrived to pick her up for their date felt like a welcome balm to her problems. She held on for several minutes while he trailed a finger down her bare arm. She shivered under his touch. He inquired softly, “Are you sure you’re up for a movie?”