Into the Abyss: A Psychic Visions Novel (Psychic Visions Series Book 10)

by Dale Mayer

  That was any psychic’s worst fear.

  Stefan’s voice slammed into his mind. Easy. We’ll look for Tavika. Can you get out of the vehicle?

  I’m trying, but I’m tied up. He shifted in the truck so he could slip two fingers into his pocket and pull out his knife. The water was rising to his knees. Within seconds he had his hands free and was working on his feet.

  Done. I’ve cut the ties. Now I have to get the hell out of here. The doors wouldn’t open. The windows didn’t have cranks. That was the problem with power locks and windows. The water inside was rising.

  Shit.

  He turned and saw the rear slider. He had it open in seconds and water gushed in. Taking a huge breath, he squeezed his big frame through, panic helping him make it. Free, he kicked hard to the surface.

  Breaking through the water, he gasped for breath. Where the hell was he?

  He could see where the truck had gone over. He swam to the side and pulled himself out of the water. He sat there for a brief moment to catch his breath then bolted to the top of the bank. Tavika, if you can hear me, I’m coming for you, honey.

  Stefan, I’m free. Climbing up to where the truck went over. If Hunter is around, I sure could use a ride.

  He’s tracking you. Should be there soon. I’m tracking Tavika. No sign of her.

  Shit. Shit. If he’s got her, he’s going to take her back to the old house, where he thinks she belongs. He stood swaying at the top of the bank as a large Jeep pulled up. Hunter.

  Opening the door, he hopped in and said, “We need to go to the same house Tavika was held captive in last time.”

  “You sure?”

  “As sure as I can be considering Stefan can’t find her either.”

  “So she’s unconscious?” Hunter asked cautiously as he pulled the Jeep around and ripped out of the parking lot heading in the direction of Kinsman Park.

  “No,” he said bleakly. “I suspect she’s trapped in that damn soundproofed room she was in before.”

  “But wouldn’t everyone know to look for her there?”

  He hoped not. Dear God, he hoped not. Because that would mean the killer had taken her somewhere else.

  And he’d have no way to find her.

  *

  Now she was home where she belonged. He smiled, feeling a sense of satisfaction twenty years coming. He knew he shouldn’t have let her live all those years ago. Stupid of him.

  It was time to rectify the mistake.

  He’d calmed down a lot over the years, and now he was more settled. Comfortable. Secure. Because he was in love now. He beamed. He just had to tie up a few loose threads. And grieve over the loss of an activity he’d devoted a lot of time and energy to perfecting. That was the hardest part. He wondered if he could treat himself to one a year or maybe two. Something to keep the fun alive.

  But then that wasn’t a fresh start, was it? He’d promised himself that. Promised the love of his life that.

  He’d promised someone else a long time ago. And he hadn’t kept that promise either.

  He was a bad boy.

  But a happy, bad boy. Sometimes. Sometimes he was so conflicted. Then he’d see something that would piss him off and he’d allow himself that treat.

  Obviously that wasn’t his fault.

  All these people had deserved to die. The victims were responsible because of whatever he’d seen them do wrong at the time.

  He was busy correcting the wrongs of the world and the people were just bent on creating more. Hell, he could spend a lifetime killing the bastards who deserved to die and still not get even close to a proper clean up.

  Not his fault.

  On that note, he laughed and walked out. There was almost nothing to walk back out of. This place was a hell of a mess.

  Perfect.

  She didn’t deserve any better.

  And after this, she’d never get anything ever again.

  Chapter 36

  “Tavika! Oh, Tavika…”

  She shuddered. No matter how old she became, that voice could still drive her to panic in two seconds flat. It wasn’t fair. She should be past the stage of being controlled by destructive nightmares.

  Tavika?

  She frowned at a different voice. Stefan? Was she having a nightmare?

  This is no nightmare. Wake up, Tavika. Now. You’re in danger. So is Jericho.

  Danger? She slowly woke up to find her body screaming in agony. Her muscles cramped, her bones aching – everything hurt. As if she’d had some kind of major trauma. Her mind was moving sluggishly, her thoughts cloudy as she asked, What the hell happened, Stefan?

  You’ve been kidnapped. You were in the hospital with Jericho helping Anna then you turned around and asked where Jericho was. Before I had a chance to answer, your physical body was attacked. The killer ran your truck into the river to try to drown Jericho, but he escaped. You hear me, he’s okay.

  Jericho? She tried to shake the cobwebs from her brain, get up to speed. Somebody tried to drown her Jericho?

  Tavika, can you get out, can you move, are you tied up, are you hurt?

  I don’t know. My brain. She reached a hand up to her head and felt the stickiness on her temple. I’m hurt, she whispered. I’ve got a head injury. There’s blood.

  Is it bad? Stefan asked sharply. Come on, Tavika, get it together.

  I’m here, she protested. Give me a second. She took a deep breath and tried to assess where she was and what was going on. She could barely see the room. It was so dark. The room reminds me of Anna’s cell.

  She tried to move her arms and realized her hands were tied together in front of her. She could still reach up and touch her head, but she couldn’t separate one arm from the other. She tried to move her feet and found the same thing but not as tight. First things first.

  Stefan, my hands and feet are tied up.

  Are you tied to something or can you stand up and walk around?

  Just a minute. Using her teeth, she worked on the nylon knots holding her wrists. Finally she loosened one, then the other. With a cry of relief, she reached down and quickly undid the knots around her ankles.

  The wall behind her offered support as she managed to hop to her feet. That’s when she realized just how much her body hurt. She could barely hold back the gasp of pain. Tears burned her eyes. She wanted to bend over and collapse to the ground. But that wasn’t going to do her any good. She studied her surroundings instead.

  She’d been here before. Dear God, she knew where she was.

  Are you sure? You just said it looked like Anna’s cell.

  No, her cell looked like my old one. I could be in my old house, but I don’t know that. There are no windows here. But there was in my old house. Unless they’ve been painted black. I can’t see any light shining in. The room is so dark.

  Light up the room, Tavika. Pour out energy and light it up.

  She did as instructed, feeling immediately better when she could see the four walls of her cell and the door. And she could see something else. Windows.

  They’d been covered up with boards then painted black.

  And she could see something else on the wall beside her.

  Her name.

  A name she’d scratched into cement when she’d been held here long ago.

  Her stomach heaved. She bent over and puked on the floor. Oh dear God. She’d known this time was coming, but she’d thought she’d have some warning.

  Not to be caught in this nightmare all over again.

  She took several deep breaths and said, Stefan, I’m at my old house. My name is scratched in the wall. I did that the last time I was here.

  We’re on our way. Jericho and Hunter are coming too.

  Good. You need to bring in the police, she said. He’s not going to go out without a fight. He’s also going to make sure I don’t survive. She took a deep breath and added, So watch for booby traps.

  Will do.

  She almost laughed. What she would have done to have had Ste
fan with her in her last incarceration. In her mind she whispered, Dear God, please let me survive. And if I can’t, then please save the others. Except the Ghost. I’d die happy if I took him with me.

  Don’t think like that. And don’t let revenge drive you. Remember my warning about your old energy. It powers your shield.

  So how did he find me? She asked bitterly. What was the point in having a shield if he got around it anyway?

  Except for one thing… Stefan’s voice was faint and getting fainter. It was hard to hear. If you didn’t plan on having him find you, why did you send out the beacon so he could?

  Sure, that was to lure him in, but the shield was to protect myself from him. She frowned. So how did he get in then?

  You have to answer that question. I don’t know.

  When the shield went down, had she let him in then? Or had he never needed the beacon to find her in the first place?

  Just as she wanted to argue, knowing there was something else there to understand, she heard a sound that made her heart freeze and her soul start crying.

  Her mother was screaming as if she were being killed. She closed her eyes and whimpered.

  How were those screams happening all over again?

  Just when she thought she couldn’t handle it anymore, her sister started to cry and plead. The pain and fear her sister went through was tearing Tavika apart. She curled up on the floor in a tiny ball trying to block off the sounds she’d heard once before. She didn’t know if the ghost of her sister and mother were there or not, but this was just too damn much. She couldn’t do this.

  She couldn’t listen to them die – not again.

  *

  Jericho and Hunter were half a block away, the Jeep parked and both approaching the house on opposite sides on foot. Stefan had set up communications with the police. He knew he shouldn’t go racing in, but it was so damn hard to hold back. Tavika was a prisoner in there, he just knew it.

  Yes, she is in there. Tied up and working to free herself. There’s also something very strange going on. Just before I blinked out I could hear the screams of her mother and sister as if they were dying.

  Jericho frowned. “But they’re dead, right?”

  As far as I know, Stefan said. But it’s not like I’ve spoken to their ghosts.

  Interesting. Was something going on?

  Tavika also warned about a booby trap, Stefan added. She’s afraid the place will be rigged to blow or something similar.

  Shit. He hadn’t considered that but it made sense.

  What he didn’t want was to have the cops come in with their sirens screaming and scaring the Ghost off again. There was no way that asshole was getting away this time. A dark sedan pulled up and parked down the street.

  Jericho watched as one man got out, talking on his phone. He put it away and walked closer to the house. He looked around furtively and then slipped into the back.

  The problem was Jericho recognized him.

  Jericho narrowed his gaze. Was he going in alone or had he been setting up backup on the phone? Or did he have a different reason for being here? Jericho checked out his energy, but it was different from the Ghost’s. Jericho raced behind him.

  He caught him at the far corner and dragged him back and away from the house to the large stand of trees on the side. He shoved his face into the newcomer’s. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I’m Henry, a friend of Tavika’s,” he said urgently. “She’s in trouble.”

  “So you came alone?” Jericho asked in astonishment, letting him go. Surely this wasn’t the backup.

  “I am a cop,” Henry snapped. “It’s what I do. Besides, who the hell are you?”

  Jericho snorted. “Then you also know she’s been kidnapped and likely being held here.” As Henry’s face paled, Jericho added, “It’s the same damn place she was held twenty years ago.” He gave Henry a shake. “Did you know that too?”

  “I do know that.” He shook his head then nodded in confusion. “But that was a long time ago. A different time. The Ghost went to sleep. He’s not been active in years,” Henry protested. “So it won’t be him now.”

  “According to the FBI, the Ghost is responsible for over forty-seven murders in the last twenty years. Tavika has three on her desk she’s trying to prove – and that’s just last week.” Jericho sneered. “It sure as hell is him. And this time the bastard isn’t getting away.”

  Henry gasped. “Dear God, how could we have missed this? I haven’t been working cases in over ten years myself,” he said in a strangled voice. “Let me go in. I’ll see if anybody is in there.”

  Jericho frowned. “I should be the one to go in.”

  “If she’s retreated to the little girl she was last time then she’ll recognize me. I’m the one that saved her.” He broke free from Jericho and ordered, “Stay here.”

  Henry bolted to the side of the house and slipped around the corner.

  Shit. He shouldn’t have let him go. Suspicious, Jericho followed Henry. He might have rescued Tavika last time, but he’d also shown up damn quickly now. There was nothing Tavika had said that cleared this guy either. Even though his energy was different from the Ghost’s.

  There were sounds of other vehicles arriving. Hopefully more cops.

  He peered around at the back porch. It was empty. Henry must have made it inside. Hunter was on the other side of the house somewhere.

  Jericho slipped up to the porch and listened. He could hear voices but couldn’t identify the speakers. Slipping free of his body so the men couldn’t see him, he slipped along the porch to the door.

  Once again he was stopped from entering.

  Tavika? Can you hear me?

  Jericho? Be careful. The place could be booby trapped.

  Yeah, it’s possible. Do you know any reason why Henry would be here? He felt her shock. Can you come and help me get through the door?

  I’m here. Tavika stood in front of him in ghost form. We have to hurry. Are the cops on the way?

  I think that’s why Henry is here.

  She frowned. He doesn’t work the streets anymore. Neither does Charles.

  He took a deep breath, his chest constricting in pain. Please let him be wrong. It did, however, explain something that had puzzled him after Hunter’s conversation with Gordon’s ghost. He’d used the term, them.

  Help me inside. She reached out a hand and grasped his.

  Together they stood in the kitchen and stared.

  There were three men in that room. Henry was one of them.

  He turned to face her, only to see tears clogging her eyes. Tavika, was your mother married to Charles? Is he your father?

  She shook her head. No. I don’t think so. I don’t know who my father was. He left before I was born. But Charles was with Henry since forever. They both came to visit sometimes.

  Sometimes?

  She nodded. But I don’t remember when or why or how often. There were too many men, remember?

  He remembered.

  And the other man, he said softly. Do you recognize him?

  She shook her head, then nodded. Tears flowed over her cheeks. I don’t know him, she whispered. But I think I know of him.

  A hard shudder wracked her soul. It’s my older half-brother, Barton.

  And her energy splintered into a million pieces.

  Chapter 37

  Tavika slammed back into her body. Once again in the same damn basement. She opened her eyes, not surprised to feel the tears dripping down her cheeks. She’d hoped and prayed it wouldn’t be somebody she knew personally, but that it was a family member albeit one she didn’t know, somehow made it even worse. She’d heard about Barton from her mother. Mostly laughing mocking comments. About how non-psychic he was. He’d taken after his father. But even now as she sat there in the darkness she had no idea who his father was. It might be Charles. But then why wouldn’t her mother have said something.

  I did. Why wouldn’t you listen when I told you to stay
away? Now you’ll die too, her mother said in a waspish tone.

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Barton?”

  Her mother’s ghost shook her head. I told you many times, you just don’t remember. Hell, I wasn’t cut out for motherhood. It was a good thing he went to live with Charles.

  Tavika couldn’t understand. How did one let go of a child? “That’s not what I mean. Why didn’t you tell me he was the killer?”

  Because you’d have gone after him. I was trying to save you but you wouldn’t listen. Her mother’s voice faded into the background, her form flickering in front of Tavika. Barton hated me. More every day. He didn’t want anything to do with the family after I remarried. Besides, he was ten years older than Bellamy, and by the time you and Travis came along he actively hated all of us.

  “And you didn’t tell me this earlier. Why?” Tavika was outraged. How the hell could her mother sit on this information all these years and not say anything. “You knew who was responsible and yet you never told me?”

  Tavika paced the small room. The ropes that had been used to tie her up, wrapped around her fists. She knew she had to get the hell out of there, but there were answers here. For the first time her mother was talking.

  He didn’t just hate us, he hated what we stood for. He had no abilities when all of us had so many. I don’t know if he was jealous or if to him we were evil. But something inside of him snapped. Charles, Henry, and Barton came by to tell me Charles and Henry were getting married. I laughed at them. Said they were fools. That the law wouldn’t let them. You have to remember that was twenty years ago and the world wasn’t as accepting.

  Her voice thickened. Barton came back that night. He told me what a horrible person I was. How lacking in love. How much I’d hurt Charles and maybe it was the abilities inside of me that made me so evil. He loved his father and he didn’t care about his alternative lifestyle.

  Oh dear God. Tavika knew how harsh and overbearing her mother had been. And she could easily see how angry she’d have made Barton and how her insults and mockery would have hurt Charles. She bowed her head. Everyone had suffered from her mother’s nasty tongue at some time. They’d all wanted to shut her up. But only Barton had actually succeeded.