Blood Sense (Blood Destiny #3)

by Connie Suttle

  "This is where we are, now," he pointed to a spot on the map. Unfortunately, the map didn't make any sense at all to me, looking to be a lot of numbered dots and wavy lines as it did. "This is where the pirates' craft is floating. They're holding the prisoner at gunpoint." He pointed to another spot, which wasn't far from the spot where he'd first put his finger.

  "Okay," I said. "I know this makes sense to you, but you lost me on the first part. Why don't you point in the direction you want me to go and tell me how far it is in miles, feet or inches?" Silently I cursed myself for not paying more attention to the metric system over my lifetime as I watched a frown form on Captain Chapman's face.

  "This is useless," Rear Admiral Dennis Hafer's voice was filled with contempt as he tossed up a hand and turned his back on us. The rear part of his title was correct; he was an ass, all right.

  "Trust me," Tony said. Captain Chapman looked at him, then at me and sighed.

  "They're about two miles away in that direction." He pointed toward the only window in the room. I could see the deck through it.

  "I need all hands kept away from that portion of the deck out there," Tony said, hustling me away from the room.

  The night air was cool around us, smelling of salt, fish and diesel exhaust from the ship's engines as Tony and I walked to the railing at the edge of the deck. The ship was huge and most of it blended in with the early evening mist forming about us. "I have this," Tony drew out a plastic bag that held a piece of cloth. "This is from one of the victim's shirts that haven't been washed." He pulled the bit of cloth from the bag and handed it to me. I sniffed it.

  "Got it," I said, handing the cloth back and wondering if baying like a trailing bloodhound might be expected next.

  "You don't need to take it with you?"

  "I have a very good memory," I huffed. Scents stayed with me. Always. Tony scanned the deck around us, checking to see that no crew members were anywhere near.

  "Go, Lissa. Bring this one back for me."

  "Where do you want him delivered?" I asked.

  "Control room," he nodded to the place we'd just left.

  "All right. I'll do the best I can."

  "Be careful, Lissy." He gave me a quick kiss. I turned to mist before he could take his lips from mine.

  Misting over the ocean at a rapid rate of speed is a little disorienting. I realized quickly that I couldn't solidify again unless I wanted to be floating in seawater. There is no solid ground—nothing to hold onto or stand upon. I was also beginning to have my doubts about whether I could find the boat or not. I could be hunting a raindrop in the ocean; nobody told me how big the boat was or how many people were on it. Once again, I was flying blind. I misted low over the water as it rippled below me—a silent, massive behemoth that could stretch for fathoms beneath its constantly moving surface. I felt it was waiting to swallow me up if I made even the slightest mistake.

  Five minutes it took. Five minutes before the scent of human bodies reached me. I zoned in on the smell right away and sped in that direction. The small boat I found was bobbing about in the water and there were ten men on board, most armed with rifles. One even had a rocket launcher. That's what it looked like, anyway, and the men appeared to be waiting for something or someone. A bigger ride, perhaps? Too bad—I got there first. Flying over the boat, I took stock of the situation. All the men aboard were armed except for one sitting in the middle. He didn't have a gun and was tied up and blindfolded instead. That looked like my target but I hovered around him just to make sure. It was the hostage, all right; he was the one whose scent I'd been given. His shirtless body was shivering and he might have been tortured—I could see dark marks on his chest and ribs. I could have grabbed him right then but thought about it for a second before coming up with an idea. My target sat in the center of the boat with three pirates around him who were watching closely. They were about to get a surprise from me. I misted down to the prisoner's feet. His captors weren't paying attention to those and it was dark anyway. Only one of my hands materialized in the dark. I touched my fingers to the bottom of the fiberglass boat and allowed my claws to slide out. When I turned my hand to mist again, there were four nice punctures in the boat and water was flooding in. Surrounding the prisoner, I turned him to mist instantly and got the hell out of there. I heard yells and screams coming from the boat as we flew away, along with a few gunshots, but they quickly faded as I put distance between us. My poor passenger was giving off vibes of pain and confusion as we traveled low over the water's surface. It's strange that I can know this about them while I carry them as mist.

  Tony told me later that it took less than thirty minutes to do the rescue, start to finish. He was waiting for me and the man I'd rescued was nearly having a fit, even though he was gagged and trussed up when I dropped him on a chair inside the control room. I solidified quickly and helped Tony get the ropes off the prisoner. Tony was out the door after that, shouting for a corpsman.

  The prisoner was going into shock; I could see that right away. He stared at me with wild eyes. "Don't worry," I placed compulsion. "Your friends got you out." He nodded and some of the shivering stopped. His blond hair was disheveled after extended exposure to the elements and his body definitely needed medical attention; he looked as if he'd been held for days, to be honest.

  Four men rushed into the room; two carried cases filled with medical supplies. The other two were Captain Chapman and Rear Admiral Hafer, who stared in disbelief at the prisoner, at me and then at Tony. I might have more compulsion to lay if the growing light in the Rear Admiral's eyes meant anything.

  "What about the pirates?" The Captain asked, eyeing the rescued man as the medics swarmed around him.

  "I imagine they're bailing water and hoping for a rescue right now," I said, looking him in the eye. "There are nine of them and they smell terrible."

  "Lissa, do you think you can find the way back to your room?" Tony asked distractedly, interrupting my conversation. He was busy with the prisoner and the corpsmen. Tony probably wanted to ask questions and I wasn't allowed to hear the prisoner's answers.

  "Yeah. I can find my way," I snapped and stalked out of the control room.

  * * *

  "Would you care to tell me how the hell she did this?" Hafer hissed at Tony.

  "I can't tell you, it's top secret," Tony growled a reply. "And no, you don't have clearance so don't ask. She's on loan to me for the moment, so don't go there, either."

  "My friends got me out," the prisoner mumbled.

  "That's right." A corpsman spoke soothingly while shining a light into the man's eyes; he appeared to have a concussion.

  "How did they know to grab him?" Captain Chapman asked. "Nobody knew he was on that ship except the higher ups."

  "Somebody let it slip or those pirates got lucky," Tony grumbled. "We're just fortunate that we had Lissa at the moment. Send some people out and see if they can pick up our pirates now. We'll see if Lissa's right."

  The Captain leaned out the door and shouted, getting a response quickly. Two small, well-armed craft were sent out in no time to check on the status of the pirates.

  * * *

  Clouds were gathering overhead as I found my way to the room in which I'd wakened, and I smelled rain in the air. It hadn't arrived yet, but it wasn't far away. Shutting the metal door behind me, I turned and took stock of my poorly furnished room. The bunk was situated against the wall or protruding out of it. It was also the only place to sit so I sat in the corner facing the door. Tony hadn't brought any books for me to read, so I closed my eyes after a while and listened to the sounds around me, my nose soaking up scents as well. Thunder rumbled over the ship a while before Tony's footsteps sounded and his scent reached me long before he did.

  "Sorry," he came in shaking himself a bit—a burst of rain had followed on the heels of the thunder. I was grateful the rain had held off during my rescue mission.

  "How's the patient?" I asked, watching as Tony flipped water from his blac
k hair.

  "Better. They've got him in the infirmary," he said. "Don't ask who he is, Lissa. I can't tell you that."

  "Wasn't going to," I muttered bitterly.

  "Lissa, don't be like that," he came to sit beside me.

  "Like what?" I asked, refusing to look at him.

  "Upset because I can't tell you something." He reached out and ran a knuckle down my cheek.

  "You're just another in a long line of that," I said, pushing his hand away. "I'm used to it by now. You may have problems with the ass Admiral, though. I saw the light in his eyes and I didn't like it."

  Tony scooted back until he was against the wall, just as I was. "Lissa," he sighed, draping an arm around me, "we all walk around in the dark at times. I'm sorry." I just snorted at his words. Sometimes, I think the person doing the dirty work deserved to know what they were getting into. He leaned in and nuzzled my temple before placing a kiss there. I had to stop him before he got too far with that. Had to.

  "Tony, stop," I tried to push him away.

  "What would happen if this guy didn't exist," he took my hand and rubbed a thumb over my ring.

  "Tony, I am what I am and you're human," I said, refusing to look at him. "How long do you expect that to last? You wouldn't get kids. No backyard barbecues on Saturday afternoons. No lunch dates. No waking up next to each other in the morning. None of that. We're the classic fish and bird, Tony. We might love each other but how can we ever live together? It's impossible. Go find somebody else."

  "Like Winkler did? He's going crazy already and he's not even married to her yet." Tony shook his head in confusion.

  "That's his fault. He wasn't thinking with the proper part of his anatomy on that one."

  "Lissa, just stop for a minute, all right?" Tony put his arms around me and I felt his warm breath on my temple. "Close your eyes and let me hold you," he whispered. "Let me pretend just for a little while that I'm the big, strong male here and I can protect you, okay? That there isn't anybody else out there, right now. Nobody that needs anything or wants anything from you. You're safe, Lissa. For this one small moment, let me have that." My hand shook as I wiped the tears away. It was a nice dream, what he'd said to me. But still a dream, when all was said and done.

  * * *

  Winds whipped Tony's clothing as the helicopter settled onto the landing pad at the end of the ship. A seaman opened the door and took the small cooler from someone inside. The cooler was dutifully carried to Tony, who accepted it while the chopper rose into the air and flew away, heading back to land.

  * * *

  "Lissa, I've never done this before so you're going to have to help me, all right?" Tony's voice woke me the evening of April second. It was a Friday, if I remembered correctly.

  "Hmmm?" My eyes blinked open and I looked up at him. He was sitting on the edge of my bed—or bunk, I should say, holding a unit of blood out to me. "Where did that come from?" I mumbled.

  "I had it flown in," he grinned.

  "Oh, that's not going to tell everybody what I am or anything," my sarcasm woke up almost before I did.

  "They don't know what it is exactly," he was still grinning. "I just told them you had an unusual medical condition and we left your medication behind."

  "What is wrong with you?" I sighed, snatching the unit of blood from his hand. "You may not want to watch this," I said, biting the top of the tubing off the bag.

  "No, this fascinates me," he said, gesturing for me to drink. I did. I have to hand it to him, he didn't even go pale. "What happens if you get packed cells?" he asked.

  "No idea," I said and continued drinking. He had a cooler plugged into a socket in the bathroom with five more units of blood inside when I put my third of a bag back for later. "They'll be coming for us tomorrow night," he said. "We'll take a helicopter to Kuwait and a military jet from there. I'll have to zip you up in your bag after we get halfway home; that's when daylight will hit us."

  "Lovely," I told him. "How's the former prisoner?" I sorted through the duffle for something to wear.

  "He's good. The ship physician says he's stable now, so the Navy will deliver him where he needs to go."

  "Ooh, more secret stuff," I fluttered my fingers. "What about the pirates?"

  "They were picked up after floating in the water for a while. Our boats stayed a little way off until they let their weapons sink in favor of saving their own skins. They're in the brig right now. If you could speak their language, you'd hear them talking about the ghost that visited them."

  "Is that what I am?"

  "To them. You scared the shit out of them, Lissa."

  "Yeah. I'm plenty scary all right."

  "How many are there that can do what you do?" Tony pulled me toward the bunk and convinced me to sit down beside him.

  "I don't know that I should tell you that," I said.

  "Agents White and Townsend say it's a really rare gift. And the mindspeech is just as rare."

  "They're just full of helpful information, aren't they?"

  "I've been waiting for you to communicate with me like that again. It shocked me when you did it in New Mexico."

  I was desperate in New Mexico, I sent. Besides, you could send to me first, you know.

  I didn't want to presume, Tony replied.

  I thought that was your specialty—presuming, I returned. It certainly was with everyone else I knew.

  Someone started banging on the metal door while we sat there. I'd heard them walk up but thought at first they'd just go on past. Tony got up to answer it.

  "The Admiral has issued an invitation for both of you to join him for dinner," the young seaman said, saluting Tony. Tony stood there for a few seconds before turning to me. This could be a test of sorts.

  "We can go if you want," I shrugged when Tony asked if I wanted to go.

  "We'll come but Lissa doesn't have much in the way of clothing," Tony said. "Let the Admiral know." The seaman saluted again and took off.

  "Are you sure about this?" he asked.

  "I can do it," I nodded. "I just won't be able to eat much."

  I dressed in the best outfit Tony packed for me; black jeans, a cream knit top, black athletic shoes and my wig. At least my eyelashes and eyebrows were looking better now. Rear Admiral Hafer greeted us as we were led into a small dining room that held a round table, arrayed in the Navy's best. Two seamen were there, waiting to serve us.

  You'll have to let me know what tastes good, I sent to Tony as I smiled and took the Admiral's hand. It all tastes like sawdust to me.

  I will, he sent back, nodding pleasantly at the Admiral.

  We were served rack of lamb with vegetables and some sort of sauce. Tony said it was good so I complimented the Admiral on the food. He still watched every bite I placed in my mouth. Crème Brulée was served for dessert. It looked wonderful and I was sorry I couldn't taste it. Tony liked it a lot and ate half of mine when I said I was too full to eat anything else.

  "So, is growing hair quickly one of your many talents?" The Admiral decided to play twenty questions over an after dinner drink.

  "This is a wig; I wish I could grow hair that quickly," I said, trying not to let my temper show. The question was rude and Tony frowned at the Admiral.

  "What happened to your hair then?" He was digging, now.

  "An unfortunate accident. I was burned," I said.

  "She's had reconstructive surgery," Tony lied for me so the Admiral wouldn't ask about my perfect skin. "We're working on the hair." Admiral Hafer wanted to ask how I'd retrieved the prisoner so badly the question trembled on his lips, but Tony already informed him it was top secret and Hafer didn't have clearance.

  "Have you performed any other feats of bravery?" The Admiral attempted a different tactic.

  "None that I can discuss," I replied.

  "I told you she was on loan and you don't have clearance. If you'll excuse us, Admiral," Tony got up from the table and I followed suit. He stalked out the door with me hot on his heels. I did
n't think he liked the Admiral any better than I did and I certainly didn't trust the man. When the helicopter came to pick us up the following evening, I was more than happy to leave the ship and Admiral Hafer behind us.

  Chapter 5

  I'd been out of touch with everyone while Tony and I had been aboard the ship. He'd forgotten my cell phone along with the blood when he packed my clothes. Tony didn't pass up the opportunity to kiss me, however, before zipping me inside the body bag just as we were coming up on daylight. "Lissy, you'll be all right—I'll see to it," he promised. All the window covers on the plane were down, shutting out any light that might shine in and my eyes closed while Tony hovered above me.

  * * *

  The unfamiliar ceiling of Tony's guest room greeted me when I woke at nightfall, creating a bit of disorientation at first. I'd only slept four or five hours and my body was struggling to adapt. I felt sluggish and tired as I showered and dressed.

  "Lissa baby, you don't look good," Tony set down the newspaper he'd been reading and pulled me against him.

  "Going through too many time zones and not getting enough sleep," I yawned a little. Tony rubbed my back. Unconsciously, I allowed my head to droop onto his shoulder. He pulled me onto his lap in no time and when I stiffened, he attempted to get me to relax. Of course, Gavin called while we were like that. I climbed right out of Tony's lap and answered my cell.

  "Lissa, where in the nine levels of hell have you been?" he shouted. With Gavin, nothing changes. At least he was shouting in English.

  "Honey calm down. I was on a ship in the Arabian Sea and my phone was left behind in the states," I said as soothingly as I could. I was now pacing inside Tony's kitchen while Gavin shouted. He punctuated the rest of his diatribe with occasional words in French and Italian, shouting that I had no business anywhere near the Middle East and other similarly cheerful thoughts. I wanted to tell him that I'd not had a choice in the matter; I'd been shipped out while I was sleeping and couldn't have objected. He didn't bother to ask me and didn't take a long enough breath to let me get the words out regarding that fact. I had to settle for letting him release all his steam.