“Is it really so hard to believe that after what you’ve seen? Demons? Synestryn lords like Krag? Men who can heal with a touch like Logan or kill with the power and ease that Cain can?”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
Um. Just because she couldn’t think of a good reason didn’t mean there wasn’t one. “I don’t know. It just is.”
“Please, Rory. Just listen to me. If you are who we think you are, then you can’t go out there alone. You’re in terrible danger.”
“Of that I’m acutely aware. I’ve run from these things my whole life. I’ll keep running until they catch me.”
“You said you were looking for someone. Who?”
“I don’t know who. Yet.”
Hope shook her head, making her blond hair sway around her shoulders. “I don’t understand.”
“I should just go. I don’t want to drag you into this any farther than you’ve already come. It’s my problem. I’ll deal with it.”
“You’re one of us. Your problems are our problems.”
The idea of belonging somewhere, of not being a freak among these people, was as tempting as it was terrifying. “It’s not something I really like to talk about.”
Hope took her hand again, and Rory felt a strand of warmth weave up her arm. “Please.”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you the truth.”
“Can your secret really be any harder to believe than aliens?”
When she put it that way . . . what harm was there in telling Hope? No one was going to believe a woman who claimed to be an alien, anyway.
Rory dragged in a long breath and gave in to the urge to spill her guts. “I see things. Things I shouldn’t see. I just want them to go away and there’s someone out there who makes it stop.”
Hope frowned, and it made her only more beautiful, which was, frankly, hideously unfair. “What kind of things?”
“Everything. Random bits of mundane existence. Private things. It all shoves its way into my head and I don’t want it there. It’s too much. It hurts.”
“And this person you’re looking for makes it all stop?”
An image of some old dude taking a leak filled her head for an instant before fading away.
“Yes.”
“How?”
“I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s just one person I’m looking for. Maybe it’s more than one. All I know is that sometimes, when I move around the city, the visions stop when I get close to them.”
“How do you know it’s a person?”
“If it were a place, then I could stand in one location and the visions wouldn’t come back. I figured that whoever it is who’s helping me must move away. Drive off or something. I can’t ever catch up with them.”
“It could be a magical artifact.”
That was something Rory had never considered. She sat there for a minute in shock, considering the possibility. “I didn’t know such things existed.”
“They do. I’ve seen them. Cain’s sword and scabbard are both examples of such things. That’s why you can’t see his sword unless it’s drawn.”
Now that Rory thought about it, she hadn’t noticed his sword since the battle. “So someone could be walking around with a magic ring or something that could fix me?”
“It’s possible.”
That would certainly solve the problem of how she was going to convince whoever blocked her visions to teach her how they did it, or, heaven forbid, stick by her side all of the time. She wanted a cure, not a conjoined twin. If that was a solution, she could pay Cain to hold her hand for the rest of her life. Which would never work. She needed freedom. Independence. She knew that was going to be an obstacle, but it wasn’t one she felt she could plan how to overcome until she knew who it was she would be dealing with.
Logan came in toting a bowl of soup.
“We’ll find a way to help you,” said Hope. “Logan and I have powerful friends. Like Cain.”
Logan set the soup down on a desk near the door. “Are you hungry?”
Rory wasn’t, but he’d gone to all the trouble. It seemed rude not to at least take a few bites. “Sure.”
Hope let go of her hand, and Rory’s arm went cold. She looked at the steam curling up from the bowl and realized that she had no idea what might be in it. These people wanted her to stay. They wanted her secrets. They could have easily drugged the soup.
She’d told Hope things she’d never told anyone but Mom and Nana. And she hadn’t even hesitated to spill her guts just now. That wasn’t something Rory did. Ever.
She looked at her tingling hand. There was a pink blotch where Hope’s fingers had touched. Drugs? Magic? Rory had no idea, but something had definitely left that mark.
The woman that Rory thought she could trust had done something to her—removed her suspicion somehow. And she hadn’t even known it was happening.
Stupid. Careless. Infuriating. Rory knew better than to trust anyone that much.
“I need to go.” She grabbed her purse and headed for the door.
Logan sounded confused. “Aren’t you going to at least wait until Cain comes back to make sure there’s no sign of poison in the creature that stabbed you?”
Cain was as much of a threat as Hope was. That man kept pulling her in, making her want to get closer to him. Touch him. Trust him. It had to be some kind of trick—some kind of magic or bizarre biochemistry she didn’t understand. Well, she wasn’t falling for it. Not this time.
Rory stopped long enough to write her cell phone number on the wall. “Text me with the results. Don’t bother to call. I won’t answer.” In case they could do that hypnosis thing—or whatever it was—through the phone lines.
“You’re scared,” said Hope. “I understand. When I thought I was alone, I was scared, too. But you’re not alone. We can help.”
Hope’s voice was so kind, so full of genuine concern. The temptation to stay and soak it up was strong.
“Thanks for fixing my knee,” Rory offered, then hurried out the way she’d come in. Sure, there were monsters out there, but she wasn’t entirely convinced that they weren’t in here, too. At least the monsters out there didn’t try to fool her into thinking they were anything but ravening beasts who wanted to eat her face.
* * *
Logan held Hope back from going after Rory. “Let her go. I’ve smelled her blood. If necessary, I can find her later. She needs some time.”
Hope’s voice was bleak, making Logan’s heart weep for her. “She doesn’t have any clue how much danger she’s in, does she?”
“She’s survived this long. I’d say that’s a good sign she does know.”
Hope laid her head on his shoulder. “Do you think she’ll save Cain?”
“Perhaps. Or she may lead us to someone who will.”
Hope lifted her head to look at him. “You know something. What is it?”
“Her blood smells familiar. I’m certain I’ve encountered one of her relatives. Perhaps a half sister.”
“Wouldn’t you have known if you took blood from a Theronai?”
“Not necessarily. I didn’t know with Helen. Her natural defenses masked her from me the way she was masked from Synestryn for a time.”
“So there could be another woman like Rory out there?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember where you came across this other woman, this half sister?”
Logan nodded. “She was among those we rescued from Krag’s lair.”
“Do you know where she is now?”
“There was so much going on then. So much chaos. I assume she went to Dabyr with the others, but Rory slipped away.”
“But you had this other woman’s blood. You could find her.”
“Yes. And I will, but until I do, say nothing to Cain. She could just as easily have shared the same human mother rather than the same Athanasian father.”
“Either way, it doesn’t matter. Rory is so alone. So isolated. I felt that when I touched her mind. Any family of hers we can find will make a difference, even if that family can’t save Cain or one of the others.”
Logan stroked Hope’s honey-colored hair. “She’s one of us now. Part of our family. We will do whatever we can to bring her joy.”
She looked up at him, her amber eyes shining. “And that is just one more reason I love you.”
Chapter 5
Cain was seeing things—proof of just how far he’d slipped over the past few months. As he walked in through the back door of the shelter, he was sure that he’d seen Sibyl. She’d stood there, staring at him in shock. Her face had been partially hidden by shadows, and he wasn’t yet as familiar with her adult face as he had been with her childlike appearance, but for a moment, he’d been sure that it was her.
And then she was gone—slipping out through the kitchen door into the dining area. He followed after her, but there was no sign of anyone passing this way. No lights, no movement . . . nothing but the aching hole Sibyl had left behind.
If he’d slipped down to the point of hallucination, he didn’t have much time left. He needed to see Rory settled safely at Dabyr. Now.
He turned and went back to the safe room, carrying a mostly intact demon for Logan to study. As soon as he entered the room, he knew Rory was gone. The space felt empty without her, echoing and lifeless in her absence.
Anger surged and bubbled beneath his skin as he spotted Logan burning her clothes. It sharpened his tone, but he couldn’t help that. “You let her go? Alone?”
“It was my fault,” said Hope. “I compelled her to trust me so she’d tell me what she was hiding. I’m not very good at that kind of thing yet, and the moment my magic wore off, she knew what I had done. It spooked her. I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault, love,” said Logan. “Rory is not as susceptible to our skills as a human would be. At least you got her to talk. Now we know the source of her pain.”
“Who’s hurting her?” demanded Cain. He would find this person or demon and destroy it. Just the thought had his blood pumping through his limbs in eagerness.
Since meeting her, he’d been buoyed by a heady sense of purpose. Her need drove him forward, compelling his actions as strongly as any vow he’d ever given.
Hope shook her head, making her blond ponytail sway. “It’s not like that. She has visions of some kind. She’s looking for the person she thinks stops them.”
“Visions? Of the future?” Sibyl had those, and the knowledge of what would happen to those she loved haunted her. Cain often worried about how she dealt with them now that he was no longer there to comfort her.
“She wasn’t specific. All I know is she sees things and these visions clearly hurt her.”
That’s what he’d seen before his collapse—her face twisted with fear and pain.