Dying Dreams (Book 1 of Dying Dreams Trilogy) (10 page)

“Just here for the crab cakes? Why’d you tell Esther you wanted to talk to me?”

“If you’d give me a chance to finish a thought, I’d tell you that I want to help you.”

She took a step back, like he’d struck her and he knew he’d made a mistake. “Why would you want to help me? You don’t know me.”

“This isn’t really the best place to talk. Could we go somewhere?”

She grinned and he relaxed. “Oh, sure. Let me just go tell my boss I want the rest of the night off to go somewhere dark and secluded to talk to a government agent. I’ll be right back.”

She turned on her heel and he knew he’d lost her. “It’s my fault,” he said. “I owe you.”

She stopped but she didn’t face him again, so he continued. “When Fulsom told me you said Louella’s name I thought you might be involved and I… I screwed up. You wouldn’t even be on their radar if it weren’t for me.”

An older man, a satyr, stepped between him and Liza, and glared at him. “This guy causing you trouble, sugar?”

Liza shook her head, turned to face Sloane, and put an arm around the old guy’s shoulders. “No, he claims he’s trying to help me. Seems the government has figured out I’ve got fae blood.”

“Liza—” Sloane gave her a warning look with the stern use of her name, but Liza ignored both.

“Shit, sweetheart, that’s the worst news I’ve heard all week,” the old guy said. “If you need to hide, I can help you.”

Sloane cleared his throat. “Government agent here.”

The old guy narrowed his eyes at Sloane, but his expression wasn’t entirely unfriendly. “He’s a good-looking fellow, sweet child, but I could make him disappear if you want.”

Liza’s expression shifted, but she still appeared way too casual for Sloane’s taste. “No, no. He says he can help me.”

The old guy leaned in real close to Sloane and sniffed him. “Siren, eh?” He stood and his hand on Liza’s waist slid up her rib cage to rest right below her breast. Sloane was pretty sure the two weren’t dating since the man was old enough to be her grandfather, but he still felt an irrational urge to rip the guy’s hand off. Liza gently lowered the hand back to her waist and the old guy chuckled. “Wouldn’t hurt to hear what he has to say. The government’s already on to you, so you can’t get much deeper in the shit.”

Liza’s smile fell and the sadness on her face made Sloane’s chest ache. “They aren’t going to let me finish school.”

The old guy nodded. “I should have warned you…If I’d had any idea—”

“No, it’s not your fault.” She glared at Sloane, making it clear whose fault it was. “I get off at ten tonight. Meet me out front.” She looked at her friend. “You hear that Arty? If I disappear, you go after Agent Sloane Rice?”

Sloane took a card out of his wallet and handed it to the old guy. “I won’t hurt her.”

The old guy’s hand disappeared behind Liza and she jumped and squeaked. “I like him,” Arty said. “You should listen to what he has to say.”

The old guy went back to his table and Liza watched him go, looking a bit lost for the first time since Sloane had met her. She swallowed, squared her shoulders and looked at Sloane, her expression carefully guarded. “Just for the record, I don’t like you. But I’ll hear what you have to say.”

He stayed at his table until the restaurant closed, watching her work and laugh with the customers. She was wearing black jeans that left little to the imagination and he couldn’t take his eyes off her ass. The whole package was exquisite, trim and fit and tight, but that round, bubbly ass was the icing on the cake. He didn’t even look at her face, because her face, especially when she was smiling, was heart-stopping and made him hate himself that much more. Made him hate that he was the reason she was going to lose so much. Sloane tried to stop watching her, to look at her as someone who needed his help, but his body didn’t agree with his mind. His body wanted her and he knew the sooner he told her what he could and got far away from her, the better it would be for both of them.

*LIZA*

Liza stepped into the cool night air and saw Rice facing the ocean, hands in the pockets of his dark jeans, the t-shirt molded to his sculpted back. She took just a moment to enjoy the view, the way the jeans hugged his ass so perfectly, the way his biceps stretched the short-sleeves of his t-shirt. For a few moments, she just drank him in, before she reminded herself she hated him because he had destroyed her life.

“A siren, huh?” she asked when she got close enough for him to hear. It wasn’t what she had planned to say, but this fae stuff was new to her and she was curious.

He didn’t jump at the sound of her voice, didn’t turn to look at her. “Twenty-five percent. It gives me an affinity to the ocean, but not a whole hell of a lot else. I didn’t even know about it until I got hired on with Homeland Security.”

Liza shivered as a sudden breeze blew off the water and raised goose bumps on her skin. Rice looked at her and even in the dim light from the moon and the restaurant lights, she could see the sorrow on his face. “I know it doesn’t mean anything, but I really am sorry,” he said.

He looked so sad, that Liza’s first instinct was to comfort him. Without considering what she was doing, she reached for his hand and squeezed. His skin was lightly callused and felt dry and warm, and she found herself taking comfort from the touch herself. She did her best to ignore the electric warmth that shot straight up her arm and through her body to comfort other places, the parts of her that didn’t give a damn who he was, and wanted to wrap themselves around him. He lifted their joined hands and looked at them, then looked at her, his expression unreadable. “You’re an asshole, but I’m a bleeding heart and a sucker for a sad face,” she said.

He nodded and held onto her like he didn’t ever want to let go. “Would you walk with me?” he asked. “There’s someone you should meet.”

She knew she shouldn’t. She’d gone out there to get answers and that’s what she should be demanding, but there was something to be said for not having all the answers, for living in ignorance a little longer, because she was sure whatever he had to say was going to be bad. She nodded, and they walked up the beach in silence, their hands clasped tight. Liza wasn’t the type to question things too much. If something felt right, she generally just jumped right in and let intuition and compassion lead the way. It was how she’d ended up with a dog and a cat in an apartment that didn’t allow pets. They’d been strays and they’d needed a home and she’d shared hers with them. Rice was an asshole who’d ruined her life, but she believed him when he said he was sorry. She’d gotten pretty good at reading people and she could tell that Rice was a stray in every sense of the word. He needed someone to love him and feed him and care for him. Not that she was volunteering for the job, but if she could give him a moment of comfort, she would.

The moon lighted their path up the beach, their footsteps sending fiddler crabs scurrying out of their way. Rice let Liza walk closest to the water on the hard-packed sand, but he paid attention to the waves without even seeming to and pulled her gently up the beach or down to keep her feet out of the water. She wouldn’t have minded getting her feet wet, but his vigilance charmed her and she didn’t want to ruin the moment.

Before she was quite ready, they reached the brick and mortar remains of a building. The flat roof still stood tall against the water and extended out into it like a dock. Rice released her hand to leap up and then gave her his own to help her onto the roof. Once she was up, he didn’t let go of her, but guided her to the end and sat down, pulling her with him. He studied her in the moonlight, emotions flashing across his face too quickly for her to read. He reached out with his other hand and placed it on her cheek, cupping her face and leaning in. She knew he was going to kiss her and she panicked, because if he kissed her, she suspected she’d be lost and she wasn’t ready to lose herself to him.

“So who are we meeting on this rock in the dark?” she asked. Rice dropped his hand and disappointment flashed only briefly before he smiled. It was the first time she’d seen him smile and she forgot how to breathe for a moment. If he’d been gorgeous before, he was downright godlike when he smiled.

“A mermaid,” he said. “Her name is Mellita.” He leaned over and put a hand in the water, swirling a finger in the dark sea, until a small glow lit and shot out into the darkness. He released three more glows and then removed his hand from the water. “Now we wait.”

“Pretty neat trick.”

“There are some things you should know,” he said. “Louella, the mermaid you dreamed of, was not the woman whose body you saw that night on the beach.”

“So, you’re saying my second dream was just a nightmare?”

He shook his head and squeezed her hand tighter. “No, Louella is the name of a mermaid who went missing after her sister’s body was found.”

Liza felt suddenly cold. “No, that’s not right. I only dream of the dead… person I touch.”

“Have you ever touched a dead person before? You told Fulsom your experience was with animals.”

Her stomach churned. “So, now I’m going to dream of every one who was in contact with the dead woman?”

“Her name was Aria, and our scientists don’t think it’s likely that your ability extends that far. Mermaids have a bond that allows them to communicate telepathically, and their relationships are more intimate than those between humans. We believe you dreamed of Aria’s sister only because of their close connection.”

“When I touched Aria, it was the same as touching all of her sisters?”

Rice nodded. He opened his mouth to speak again, but a sleek dark head popped up from beneath the waves and snarled at them. Liza startled and tried to scuttle back across the rock, but Rice released her hand and wrapped an arm tight around her shoulders to keep her by his side. “Mel, relax–”

“Don’t tell me to relax. You bring a stranger here, a woman, without giving me any warning, and you want me to relax. I thought you were smarter than that.”

Rice actually tried to move Liza behind his back, but she’d caught on and no longer felt she needed his protection. “Men,” Liza said, disgust obvious in her tone. “He didn’t tell me you and he…” she motioned between him and the mermaid.

“We’re not,” Rice said, his teeth clenched, clearly uncomfortable. She scooted out from under his arm, and faced the other woman who was still hissing at her.

“He and I aren’t anything to each other, so please don’t get upset.”

“You’re a liar,” Mellita hissed. “I can sense how much he wants you. He has never wanted me that way.”

Liza looked between the two, trying to figure out what was going on.

“She’s here to help with Louella, Mel,” Rice said, his voice calm. “She’s a banshee and she’s dreamed of Aria’s death and, possibly, Louella’s.”

Mel slumped, though she still glared at Liza. “She’s dead then?”

“I don’t know,” Liza said. “She was electrocuted by a man with some sort of stun gun and she passed out. I don’t know if she’s dead.” But she’d never dreamed about someone who was just injured. Liza couldn’t bear to tell her that.

“By a man?” Mel made the word man sound like a swear word. “And Aria? Was she also killed by a man?”

“Yes. A man in a scuba suit, with vivid blue eyes.”

“No man should be able to resist our charms to do us harm,” Mel said, her focus turning to Rice. “He had to have known what we are, what we can do, and to have…” she looked at Liza and stopped.

“Yes,” Rice said. “There’s more, Mel. Louella saw something. A drill in the water. She was drawn in by the sound of it. Fulsom and I are going to look into it, but you should tell your sisters to stay out of that part of the ocean.”

“That part of the ocean belongs to us,” Mel said, her eyes blazing in the dark.

“Yes, it does, but please let me and Fulsom look into it before you do anything.”

“You have two days.” Mel turned to go back under the water, but Rice’s next words stopped her.

“The official word is still that Aria died of exposure and electric eel.”

“They don’t believe me?” Liza said at the same time Mel said, “Fucking humans.” Mel dove back down under the water without a splash and Liza found herself glaring at Rice.

“They don’t believe me?” she asked again.

Rice dropped her hand, and she knew what he was going to say next was going to piss her off. “They aren’t backing your story, but they want you to come work for them. I’m supposed to meet with you tomorrow and convince you to come in for an interview.”

She tried to process what he was saying. “What do they want me to do?”

“They want you to read dead bodies for them, Liza.” His face was pale in the moonlight and Liza’s stomach flipped. They wanted her to touch dead bodies with the intention of dreaming their deaths? They wanted her to experience death in her dreams every night? She leaned over the side of the rock and vomited into the sea. Her tears fell with the contents of her stomach and she started to shake.

Rice was there next to her, holding her hair and rubbing her back and she was so grateful for his touch, even as she knew she should be furious with him. Once she’d wiped her face, she sat up. “I can’t… I can’t do that. Please tell me there’s a way out of this?”

He started to reach for her, but he stopped himself as though he knew he didn’t have the right. She wished he had made the move, she needed comfort and, after meeting Mel, she couldn’t even be angry at him for bringing her there. She understood his desire to help the mermaids. She didn’t reach for him either, though, because she knew if she forgave him too easily it would set a precedent of Liza as doormat. “They’re going to test you, first,” he said. “Officially, they don’t believe your dreams, but you’re the first banshee they’ve had and they won’t let you go. They’ll have you touch other dead bodies and see what you dream.” His gaze dropped to his empty hands. “They’ll do whatever they can to keep you there. You’re young and you’re strong. They’ll want find out everything they can about banshees.”

“I’ll be a fucking guinea pig?”

“You could run,” he said, like he already knew what she’d say to that.