by Ciana Stone
“I couldn’t even talk. I just sat there until Joe picked me up and led me back to my car. He drove me home and put me in bed. I couldn’t sleep, even as drunk as I was. He stayed with me all night. The next morning I found out that while Joe was with me another murder had happened. Same MO as Dwayne Jones.
“I knew then that Joe couldn’t be Vacher. And I knew that I had to find Vacher and stop him.”
“And?”
She actually started she was so surprised. Kade was obviously more than merely intuitive. He’d picked up that she was holding out.
“And I went to war. At least in my own head. I became obsessed with stopping Vacher. It…it colored my judgment. So much that I killed two people.”
His voice was tight when he asked, “You want to elaborate?”
“Not really.”
“I need to know, Cia.”
“Yeah. I know.” She closed her eyes for a moment. She’d never spoken to anyone about this. She’d just accepted the decision of the review board that’d deemed the kills as justified and tried, unsuccessfully, to forget.
“There were three murders in Detroit. The last one something was left at the scene, a partial print. We were able to get an ID. Ronald Spaulding. The man worked at a local bar as a bouncer. He had a short rap sheet, mostly for bar fights, one assault with a deadly.
“We staked him out. It was my shift. My partner came down with the flu so I took the shift solo. I was…I was drinking. A woman came to his house. After about twenty minutes, I heard screaming. I called it in but instead of waiting for backup, I went in.
“I thought he was raping her. He had her bent over the arm of the sofa and she was screaming the house down. I kicked in the door and ordered him to back away and lie down on the floor.
“He backed up and started to kneel when the woman jumped up and grabbed a beer bottle from the coffee table. She smacked it against the table, breaking off the end. I yelled at her to stop but she came at me. I saw him rise and start toward me behind the woman. He had a gun. I don’t know how. Maybe it was on the couch or the floor.
“I saw them coming and I killed them both.”
“And?”
“It was ruled as self-defense.”
“Was it?”
She shook her head. “No. I didn’t have to kill them. I was drunk and angry. I wanted him to be Vacher and when they came at me, I wanted to kill them. Not wound or cripple, but kill. As it turns out, he wasn’t raping the woman. They had a standing thing. She liked it rough and she liked to be loud.
“His print was at the murder scene because he had dated the victim a couple of times. Because of my obsession and my weakness, I killed two people. I’ve got their blood on my hands and I’ll never get it off.”
Kade said nothing when she fell silent. They sat there for a long time, neither speaking, just looking at one another.
Finally, Cia stood and moved to the door. It was clear that everything had been said. She’d given Kade the answers he wanted and now they were done. She reached for the door handle.
“Cia, wait.”
She turned to see him get off the bed and cross the room to her. He took her by the arm and turned her to face him.
“I don’t know much about all this psychic stuff but one thing I do know is that evil can’t take someone over unless there’s not enough good in the person to stop it. You have to be open to evil or it doesn’t have anywhere to live.
“You’re not evil, Cia. Just afraid and confused. Yeah, you killed those people but to be honest, I don’t know if I or any other law enforcement officer would have done differently.”
“But it wasn’t any other officer, Kade. It was me. I have to live with that, but I won’t ask anyone else to join my misery.”
“What if someone asked to be let in?”
That question scared her as much as the question of her own morality. She couldn’t verbally respond, she could only drop her head, look down, and not meet his eyes. If she did, he might see how much she wished she could say yes.
“Cia.” He spoke her name like a prayer, so sweet and full of care that tears sprang to life in her eyes.
“Kade, don’t.” She still could not meet his eyes.
“Cia.”
The second time she could not resist the call. She raised her head to meet his eyes.
Kade didn’t speak, he just swept her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.
She scooted away from him when he started to lie on top of her. “I’m not looking for love, Kade.”
He stared at her for a moment then smiled. “Well, how about passion?”
“That, I can handle.”
“Then lose those clothes, sweetness, and invite me in. I promise I’ll take you where you’re never been.”
Cia wasn’t fooled by the lightness of his tone or the boastful words. She could see in his eyes that Kade wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of man. Why he was pretending was a mystery. Had he simply accepted that passion and a short-lived affair was all they’d ever have?
Maybe so. She would find out soon enough. “Big talk.”
“Comes with a money-back, iron-clad guarantee.”
Cia looked up into his eyes and time seemed to stop. He wasn’t the only one playing games, pretending. The truth was if she had one wish, it would be that this man, these feelings he inspired, could be something of the forever kind.
Kade watched her eyes, waiting for her response. There was something there, some emotion she tried to hide. Was whatever she felt enough to scare her off? He hoped not. Something inside him said that she just might be the woman for him, the one who could accept and understand.
Relief flooded him when she gave him an impish grin. “Well, hell, Kade. When you put it like that…”
Before he’d had time to react, she grabbed his shirt in both hands and ripped it open. That wasn’t a shirt he’d be wearing again anytime soon. Buttons flew this way and that as she bared his chest. He barely had time to do more than smile before her mouth was on his chest and her fingers were working on his belt buckle.
Desire made him overeager. He pulled her to him, their lips meeting in a kiss that was nearly violent it was so filled with need. She paused in the task of unfastening his belt to snake her arms up around his neck, tightening her fingers in his hair, and returning the kiss with unbridled passion.
He wasn’t accustomed to instant heat, the kind that made you lose your mind and revert into a primitive male with only a single thought. But that’s where he was and there was no sense fighting it.
Thoughts of demons and ghosts, psychics and angels were abandoned as they came together. This might not be the start of happily ever after for either of them, but it was too powerful to be diminished.
Hours passed before they were spent, lying slick with sweat in one another's arms on the bed.. Amazing didn’t even touch what this woman was. She was a force of nature. Neither of them moving except their chests and bellies heaving for air.
“Fuck me,” she breathed. “That was…incredible.”
“That was just the beginning, sugar. If you’ve got more in you.”
She grinned up at him. “Bring it, Ranger.”
“Oh I intend to.”
And he did.
Chapter Eight
Travis looked rumpled when he opened the door. That was Delilah’s first thought. His shirt was wrinkled and buttoned once, but in the wrong hole so that it hung lopsided, and his pants looked as if they’d been slept in. Add to that the fact that his hair was standing this way and that and he presented the picture of a man who had not slept well if he’d slept at all.
She hated barging in on him in the middle of the night but she had to talk to someone. Twice since they’d arrived in Texas, she’d had a precognitive flash. The first time it’d been too unclear, but this time she got it.
Cia was going to die.
“Come in.” Travis stepped aside for her to enter.
“I think we should ask Brett to pull
Cia from this one,” she said as soon as he closed the door.
“What’d you see?”
“Us. At a funeral. Cia’s.”
Travis shook his head. “That could be any point in the future, Dee.”
“No. You looked just like you do now. And Kade was there.”
“Still doesn’t mean—”
“Vacher was there. Standing beside her grave.”
Travis’ eyes widened marginally. “You know she’ll fight it if we try to have her removed. This is personal for her. You know that better than anyone.”
“Which is exactly why she needs to be removed.”
Travis raked his hands back through his hair and paced across the room. “Dee, I don’t know. She may be our best chance at stopping this. And this Vacher character…well, chances are no matter when Cia dies, he’ll be standing there gloating unless she manages to find him one day and we figure out how to banish him.”
“Travis, she’s going to die. And Vacher’s here.”
That stopped any further argument from Travis. “Fine. We’ll talk to Brett in the morning. But—” He held up one finger for emphasis. “If he says Cia stays then you’ll let it go and we’ll do whatever we can to make sure your vision doesn’t come true. Agreed?”
Delilah thought about it for a moment then nodded. She was going to do all she could to convince Brett to remove Cia from the case. If she couldn’t then she’d talk with Butch and see if between him, her and Travis, they could come up with a plan to keep Cia safe.
* * * * *
Cia woke to the feel of warm hands caressing her lower back and butt. She smiled and rolled over to face Kade.
“What time is it?”
“A little before three.”
“You want me to leave?” She almost hoped he would say yes. Since they’d finished having sex, all she could think of was what it would be like if this thing between them was more than a quick affair that would end when the case was over.
If he told her to leave, maybe she could convince herself that there was never really anything there to begin with, just fanciful imaginings.
“No, I don’t. But I do want to talk.”
The warm, relaxed feeling of a moment ago vanished to be replaced with anxiety. Talk was dangerous. “About what?”
“Well, actually I want to talk. And I want you to listen.”
“Okay.”
“Okay. I won’t say this but once. I think you’re wrong about Dwayne Jones and the couple. I read Jones’ sheet. He wasn’t a good man, Cia. He’d been busted on intent to distribute, several felony possessions, breaking and entering, armed robbery and attempted manslaughter. The man was in and out of prison since he was sixteen. He was on a path that was already evil.
“And that couple—that was just a mistake. And it’s not as if they were squeaky clean, either. Spaulding was rumored to be working for some real bad people, people who are into slave trafficking. That woman he was with, Denise Dobbs? She was involved with the same people. And she’d been dealing meth for years. Again, not exactly the crème de la crème of society. And you thought you were in imminent danger and reacted the way anyone would have.”
“I know about Jones.” She did know. She’d memorized his sheet. “Knowing doesn’t change what I did. Nor does it excuse me from gunning down two people because I’d been drinking and overreacted.”
“Maybe. But with Jones, it is justified if he welcomed Vacher, don’t you think?”
“But we don’t know that he did.”
“Unless you ask him.”
“I don’t know that I can do that.”
“Why?”
“It just doesn’t work like that, Kade. I don’t go looking for them. They just come to me.”
“Well, have you ever tried?”
“No.”
“Well there you go. You never know until you try. Look, just think about it. That’s all I ask.”
“Why does it matter so much to you?”
“It just does.”
“That’s all you’re gonna give me?”
“For now. Just think about it, okay?”
She considered it, looking into his eyes to try to see what lay beneath the surface. Finally, she nodded. “Okay.”
He smiled sweetly at her and she scooted closer to kiss him. When she ran her hand down his body, he stopped her. “I think we should get some sleep.”
She would have preferred another horizontal two-step but didn’t argue. He gathered her into his arms and closed his eyes. Cia lay there, thinking about what he’d said and wondering. Could she call Dwayne Jones to her? And even if she could, did she want to? What if she found out that he had been innocent of the acts Vacher had made him commit?
She wasn’t sure she was strong enough to have that verified. But what if the opposite proved true? Would she feel vindicated in that killing? Maybe. But there were two more deaths she couldn’t justify. How was she supposed to put that behind her?
Her eyes grew heavy and she snuggled in tight to Kade. Just as she closed her eyes, she felt it. A hot wind and a smell like putrefying flesh.
Her eyes flew open. Silhouetted in front of the window with the light from the streetlamp haloing him was Dwayne Jones. She slid quietly out of bed and went to him.
“Long time,” he said with a lecherous grin.
Cia studied him for a long moment. “You knew, didn’t you? About Vacher?”
“Hell yeah, I knew. Man gave me power. Made me smart and strong.”
“Made you a murderer.”
“Those bitches got what they deserved.”
“How do you figure that, Dwayne?”
“Easy. All they had to do was say yes. We proposed to them, offered ourselves to them. But like the little whores they were, they said no. We weren’t good enough for them.”
“So that justified what you did?”
“We gave them what they deserved.”
“Rot in hell, you bastard,” she hissed into his face.
He laughed. “I’ll be waiting for you, bitch. Got some special plans for you.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Oh, it’ll happen. Vacher will see to it.”
“Cia?”
At the sound of Kade’s voice, Dwayne vanished. She turned to see Kade sitting up in bed.
“Was that Jones?”
“You saw him?”
“Saw and heard.”
Cia was stunned. She shouldn’t have been—after all, she saw the dead, why shouldn’t he? She just hadn’t expected it.
“Have you seen them before?”
“Who?”
“The dead.”
Kade held out his hand to her. She returned to the bed, settling in on her side, facing him. He turned on his side toward her. “I saw my grandfather. Once. During a raid. I was shot. Had on a vest but it knocked me out. When I regained consciousness, I was in ambulance and he was sitting beside the paramedic. He told me I was okay and that he was always with me.”
“And that’s all?”
“Well, until I met you.”
It was obvious that Kade had some degree of ability. What was odd was that it should start manifesting now. Did it have something to do with being around her, or maybe Delilah and Travis? Or was Joe somehow involved?
“How does it make you feel?”
He was quiet for a long time before answering. “A little scared.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“What Jones said You’ve got to know now that he wasn’t innocent. If you hadn’t killed him…”
“Then he would have gone to prison. I know he was evil. That much is clear. But it doesn’t cancel out what I did, Kade.”
“Cia, you can’t—”
“Let it go.” She silenced him with her fingers on his lips.
He took her hand to uncover his lips. “I can’t. Cia, do you believe in forgiveness?”
This time she could not answer right away. Did she believe? She supposed she did. She wanted to.
“I don’t know that it’s a question of belief. More like a question of whether it’s deserved.”
“And you don’t believe you deserve it?”
“Maybe not.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, Kade. I really don’t.”
“Well, if it means anything, I forgive you.”
“I have to go to the bathroom.” She had to escape the bed, escape his eyes. No way could she let him see the tears that flowed down her face. Did it mean anything? That was what hit her so hard and with such total surprise. It meant everything.
Chapter Nine
Cia opened the door to her hotel room to find Joe with a room service cart. She cut a look over her shoulder at the people gathered in the room—Delilah, Travis, and Kade.
“Come on in.” She stepped aside for him to enter, mouthing “what the fuck?” at him.
He grinned and pushed the cart into the sitting area of the suite. “Hope ya’ll are hungry. Got a mighty fine breakfast here.”
Cia looked at Kade, who looked at her, then at Joe and back at her. She looked at Travis and knew he had noticed the reactions. Was he reading Kade right now? The raise of his eyebrows and expression on his face said yes.
Delilah looked up from the table on her lap and the notes she’d been typing. “I’ll just have some toast and—oh my god!”
Cia looked at her then at Joe. He just shrugged and smiled. Delilah set her tablet aside and got up to walk over to Joe. She circled him and stopped in front of him. “Joe, I presume?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Delilah looked at Travis. “You see him, right?”
“Clear as day.”
“And you?” She looked at Kade.
“Yes.”
Delilah turned to Cia. “This is the Joe?”
“Yeah.”
“So why’re you showing yourself to us?” Delilah turned to face Joe.
He shrugged. “You seem like nice people.”
“Who are you?” Travis asked.
“Well, you already know that. I’m Joe.”
“Joe who?”
“Just Joe.”
“Plain old Joe,” Delilah said. “That’s what you told Cia. But there has to be more. You had to have had a last name at one time.”