Hold Back the Dark

by Kay Hooper

  “Come on, Victoria. Why don’t you help us?”

  Victoria shook her head. “What? I can’t do that.”

  “Of course you can,” Hollis told her.

  “I don’t know how.”

  “Of course you do.”

  “Hollis—”

  “Come on, we’ll show you.”

  “Oh, damn.” Victoria glared halfheartedly around at her team members, then moved toward Hollis. “Everybody better stand back. Angels can’t be killed, can’t they? Ruby—”

  “I’ll be fine, Victoria. And so will you.”

  “But I don’t know what I’m doing.”

  But in the end, of course, Hollis and the others were right.

  Victoria did know what she was doing.

  * * *

  • • •

  THE REALLY PECULIAR thing, Archer told them later, was that he had managed to trace the nearly ancient belt and gloves they’d found not far from the sealed portal. The items had belonged to a man who, though unnoticed by the history books, had quite likely been one of the first serial killers to ever visit evil on the young colonies of America.

  Hunted by a group of men from an eastern territory, accused of murdering at least three young women, Adam Deacon had been run to ground in the valley near what had been a small mining camp where Prosperity now stood. Caught with blood literally on his hands and the body of the favorite daughter of a wealthy family at his feet, he had been chased up into the mountains by a mob howling for his blood.

  There hadn’t been much law and order in those days, and when miners had thrown his mostly dead body into an abandoned shaft and collapsed it behind him, no one had thought it anything other than justice.

  Archer hadn’t been able to find out much more about Deacon, but Bishop had more resources, and he soon found out all they were ever likely to about Adam Deacon. He’d been accused of at least another dozen murders, all of them bloody.

  But the most peculiar thing was that, as a young man before his rampage began, Deacon had been struck by lightning.

  Twice.

  CHARACTER BIOS

  (In Order of Appearance)

  OLIVIA CASTLE

  Born telekinetic—Vermont (28; five feet and petite; straight copper hair in a shoulder-length cut framing a heart-shaped face; huge blue eyes that always appear startled; childlike voice) One of the more physically fragile psychics of the group, her abilities are nevertheless impressively powerful—and normally under at least nominal control. But not on the Tuesday morning in October when it all begins. Suffers from horrible headaches. Has a cat named Rex, who is a brindle-tortie with Siamese blue eyes and an impressive vocabulary. Rex goes everywhere with her.

  LOGAN ALEXANDER

  Born medium—San Francisco (30; six-one; shaggy black hair; oddly light blue eyes) Always surrounded by the dead, and they always want to talk to him. Whether he wants them to or not. He is absolutely incapable of keeping them out, and because of the fallout from that (reacting to and talking to spirits other people can’t see) he’s led something of a nomad’s life, never living in one place more than a few months. But it’s a spirit who first tells him something strange is going on, and that he needs to go to Prosperity. One spirit named Oscar. And then many more.

  RENO BELLMAN

  Born seer and clairvoyant—Chicago (29; five-eight; willowy; shoulder-length black hair; exotic green eyes) Experiences visions both asleep and awake. One of the unique qualities about Reno as a seer is that if she touches someone else while experiencing a vision, that person experiences it as well. Even nonpsychic people. Another trait unique to her is that the strongest visions remain with her for some time—and she can “revisit” them at will. She is what’s known as “wholly receptive” in her abilities; because she never needed a shield, she never built one and so is more than usually threatened by external energies.

  TONY HARTE—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT

  (Thirties; tall; slim but athletic; brown hair; brown eyes) A clairvoyant but not especially strong, though often able to get a sense of how the people around him are feeling, Tony has a number of other skills that make him valuable to the Special Crimes Unit, not the least of which is a cockeyed sense of humor that often serves to keep their rather intense unit chief grounded in the here and now. Has been with the SCU longest of any psychic on Bishop’s team.

  NOAH BISHOP—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT CHIEF

  (Thirties; tall; wide-shouldered; black hair; silver-gray eyes) Profiler, pilot, sharpshooter, and highly trained and skilled in several martial arts. Plus has mastered a number of esoteric skills often useful in his work such as lock picking.

  An exceptionally powerful touch-telepath, he also shares with his wife, Miranda, a strong precognitive ability, the deep emotional link between them making them, together, far exceed the limits of the scale developed by the FBI to measure psychic talents. Also possesses an “ancillary” ability of enhanced senses (hearing, sight, scent), which he has trained other agents to use as well, something they informally refer to as “spider senses.” Whether present in the flesh or not, Bishop virtually always knows what’s going on with his agents in the field, somehow maintaining what seem to be psychic links with almost all of his agents without in any way being intrusive.

  Appearances: Stealing Shadows, Hiding in the Shadows, Out of the Shadows, Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Sleeping with Fear, Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Haven, Hostage, Haunted, Fear the Dark, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark

  MIRANDA BISHOP—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT

  (Thirties; tall; athletic; voluptuous body; black hair; electric blue eyes) Profiler, black belt in karate, sharpshooter. Miranda is a touch-telepath and a seer, remarkably powerful, and possesses unusual control, particularly in a highly developed shield capable of protecting herself psychically, a shield she’s able to extend beyond herself to protect others. Shares abilities with her husband, due to their intense emotional connection, and together they far exceed the scale developed by the SCU to measure psychic abilities.

  Appearances: Out of the Shadows, Touching Evil, Whisper of Evil, Sense of Evil, Hunting Fear, Chill of Fear, Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Hostage, Haunted, Fear the Dark, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark

  CHIEF DEPUTY KATIE COLE—PROSPERITY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT

  (32; medium height; dark blond hair; sharp hazel eyes; easy manner) Has been drawn to this area, this town, inexplicably. Has been at some pains to hide her psychic ability, which is unusual and not a little unsettling. She has the ability to paralyze people, to freeze them in their tracks. It only lasts a few seconds, and she uses it only as a last resort. She also, rarely, “hears” a voice in her mind, a voice that always warns her of something dangerous. She has learned to listen to that voice.

  GALEN—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT

  (Thirties; very large and powerful; impassive face and unreadable dark eyes) Guardian, watchdog. Galen was not born precisely psychic, though his primary ability is paranormal, unique, and extraordinary. To date, he has been “killed” several times (including by DeMarco) but possesses the ability to not so much heal himself as . . . resurrect himself. Regenerate. So far, he has sustained a number of injuries that should have killed him—and has come back from each one, within minutes. He has also, fairly recently, been exposed both to an extremely negative blast of energy and the traumatic knowledge that enemies of the SCU with whom he shared an unknown connection used him, without his awareness, to “spy” on the SCU. The blast of energy and the events that led to it have awakened latent abilities Galen did not know he had, is not certain he wants, and has successfully hidden from most of the other SCU agents. Most of them.

  HOLLIS TEMPLETON—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT

  (Thirties; medium height; slender; large and unusual blue eyes; short brown hair) Profiler. Her primary ability is as a medium and
she’s the most powerful medium in the unit, but Hollis is unique in several ways, not the least because she has, from case to case, awakened or even created numerous other psychic abilities, more than any psychic in the SCU or Haven, more than any psychic Bishop has ever known. And those abilities tend to be full-blown almost immediately, though never perfectly under her control.

  One theory that could explain Hollis’s numerous abilities could be the extreme trauma of her psychic awakening (see Touching Evil), which was the most horrific and brutal on record. But other agents in the SCU and operatives in Haven have suffered extremely traumatic psychic awakenings without continually gaining new abilities as Hollis has.

  She is unique within an extraordinary group of unique people.

  In addition to being a medium, she is able to see auras; heal herself and others; recognize true evil no matter how it attempts to hide itself; and sense, define, channel, and use sheer energy, even dark energy, without being harmed by it. Most recently she has awakened or created an extraordinarily strong ability as an empath. She also consistently tests at the higher, more powerful end of the scale the SCU has developed to measure psychic abilities—with every new ability gained.

  Hollis, more than any other member of the unit, is proving there well may be no limits to what the human mind can achieve.

  Appearances: Touching Evil, Sense of Evil, Blood Dreams, Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Haven, Hostage, Haunted, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark

  REESE DEMARCO—FBI SPECIAL CRIMES UNIT

  (Thirties; tall; powerful; blond hair; light blue eyes) Originally one of the former military “civilian” operatives for Bishop, Reese has specialized in the past in deep-cover assignments, some long-term. Until he was partnered with Hollis. Pilot, military-trained sniper, profiler.

  An “open” born telepath, he is able to read a wide range of people. He has a unique double shield, which sometimes contains the unusually high amount of sheer energy he naturally produces. He also possesses something Bishop has dubbed a “primal ability”: He always knows when a gun is pointed at or near him, or if other imminent danger threatens. At least twice, that primal ability has saved the life of his partner.

  Appearances: Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Haven, Hostage, Haunted, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark

  DALTON DAVENPORT

  Born telepath—Alaska (33; just under six feet; wide shoulders and strong bones, but too thin; brown hair; hazel eyes that change color according to his mood and his abilities) Was one of those unlucky souls like Diana Brisco Hayes who was medically diagnosed with mental issues and spent much of his life on medication, institutionalized. He is not at all eager to call attention to himself by using his abilities and most definitely does not want to be part of a team. Any team. In Hold Back the Dark he does not have a choice.

  SHERIFF JACKSON ARCHER

  Foxx County Sheriff’s Department, based in Prosperity (38; six feet; dark brown hair; level gray eyes) A highly intelligent man and a very good cop, he has been uneasily aware of something unnatural happening in his town. It’s neither definable nor definitive enough for him to call in specialized help, at least in the beginning. And then people begin to die in ways and for reasons that make no sense to him.

  VICTORIA STARK

  New Orleans (26; medium height; thin but much, much stronger than she looks; silvery hair cut short; very large green eyes) Psychic abilities triggered in childhood; no specific definition for them, but possesses very strong shields. Has not found her “gift” of being able to put people to sleep for “naps” to be of much use in life. (“Great for bad dates and noisy roommates. Otherwise not so much.”) But she has another ability, one Bishop and the SCU had believed was virtually impossible: To a certain extent, and depending on who it is, she can control the thoughts and actions of others. It is an ability she herself considers dangerous in the extreme, and therefore to be used only as a last resort. Both abilities have been growing more powerful since her childhood.

  SULLY MAITLAND

  Born empath—Montana (32; six-two and powerful; dark hair graying at the temples; intense golden eyes) One of many psychics cursed with headaches and blackouts; for Sully the blackouts are sometimes a blessing. It’s the only real peace he has, since the feelings of every soul within a hundred yards of him wash over him like an extremely painful tide. One oddity is that he also senses the emotions of animals. Not thoughts, he has no ability to communicate with them as such, but he knows what they feel. Not all animals, but most. Including birds, especially crows.

  DR. JILL EASTON

  Part of the network of doctors in North Carolina trained to act as medical examiners, and familiar to readers of Wait for Dark, she has a new partner, Austin Messina, and both are non-SCU psychics, among the group Bishop is able to call on for help.

  PSYCHIC TERMS AND ABILITIES

  (As Classified/Defined by Bishop’s Special Crimes Unit and by Haven)

  Adept: The general term used to label any functional psychic; the specific ability is much more specialized.

  Latent: The term used to describe a person with inactive psychic abilities; these people rarely even know about those dormant extra senses.

  Clairvoyance: The ability to know things, to pick up bits of information, seemingly out of thin air. Often requires touching an object, but stronger clairvoyants often simply have the knowledge or information come to them unbidden.

  Telepathy (touch and non-touch or open): The ability to pick up thoughts from others. Some telepaths only receive, while others have the ability to send thoughts. A few are capable of both, usually due to an emotional connection with the other person.

  Empathy: An empath experiences the emotions of others, with varying degrees of intensity unique to the individual psychic.

  Empathic Healer: For some empaths, their emotional connections to others is so powerful that they are able to share physical pain and injuries, and to heal those injuries. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, an empath-healer can endanger his or her own life in healing someone else. A rare empath can feel and share injuries to the mind and soul as well as the body, and is able to heal devastating emotional and psychological trauma so that a victim of violence can move past that.

  Absolute Empath: The rarest of all abilities. An absolute empath can literally absorb the pain of another, to the point that the empath physically takes on the same injuries, healing the injured person and then healing themselves. If they have the strength.

  Mediumistic: Having the ability to communicate with the dead; some see the dead and some hear the dead. Most mediums in the unit are able to do both, though there are of course differences unique to each psychic.

  Medium-Healer: The ability to heal injuries to self or others, often but not always connected to mediumistic or empathic abilities. For medium-healers, the theory is that since they are sensitive to the electromagnetic energy of death, they are also often able to “tune in” the energy of life as well, and manipulate those energies in order to heal themselves and others. It can be extremely dangerous for the healer, depending on the individual’s strength and how serious the pain or injury they attempt to heal, since it always depletes their own life energy.

  Precognition: The ability to correctly predict future events. The SCU definitions differentiate between predictions and prophesies: A prediction can sometimes be changed, even avoided, but a prophesy will happen no matter what anyone does to try and change the outcome.

  Psychometric: Having the ability to pick up impressions or information from touching objects.

  Regenerative: Having the ability to heal one’s own injuries/illnesses, even those considered by medical experts to be lethal or fatal. (A classification unique to one SCU operative and considered separate from an empathic or mediumistic healer’s abilities.)

  Telekinesis: The ability to move objects with the mind. A very rare ability.

  Telepathic mind control: Th
e ability to influence/control others through mental focus and effort; an extremely rare ability. Though some psychics the SCU has encountered have displayed this ability to some degree, and they’ve seen it between blood siblings, Bishop believes it to be a negative ability (taking away control from others), and highly dangerous because of that.

  Dream-projecting: The ability to enter another’s dreams.

  Dream-walking: The ability to invite/draw others into one’s own dreams.

  Spider sense: The ability to enhance one’s normal senses (sight, hearing, smell, etc.) through concentration and the focusing of one’s own mental and physical energy.

  UNNAMED ABILITIES:

  The ability to see into time, to view events in the past, present, and future without being or having been there physically while the events transpired. Another rare ability, it seems to be a combination of clairvoyance, precognition, and sometimes mediumistic traits, though the ability is so rare it hasn’t been studied in depth.

  The rare ability to cause another person, even another psychic, to sleep.

  The rare ability to even momentarily freeze another person so they are unable to move.

  The ability to see the aura or another person’s energy field, and to interpret those colors and energies.

  White = healing

  Blue/lavenders = calm

  Red/rich yellows = energy/power

  Red alone = almost always reflecting rage

  Green = unusual, tends to mix with other colors, peaceful

  Metallic along the outside edge of an aura = repelling energy from another source or projecting a protective shield

  Metallic within an aura, close to the body = holding in a dangerous amount of sheer power

  Black = extremely negative, even evil, especially if it has red streaks of energy and power