Knock, knock... (35 page)

"Ronin does know."

"Is there nothing to be done? It's hardly safe with this person running around."

Roman put his coffee down very slowly, but Shay watched the temper building on his face.

"It's all right, Roman," Shay said. "This is the first time something like this has happened. It's bizarre enough that it's not likely to happen again."

"But it could. Right?" He stared, narrow-eyed, at her. She tried for that reassuring smile again and was about to speak, but Stefan beat her to it.

"Yes. It could," Stefan said. "Any time we do energy work, there is a chance of something going wrong. The same as you could have an accident any time you get behind the wheel of your car."

Roman frowned at the cell phone in Shay’s hand.

She raised it higher and smiled grimly at him. "He's right. It's very unusual for us to have a problem, but nothing is without risk. And rarely are we fighting off attackers."

He sat back and glared at her. "But this time you are. And I don't like it."

She answered tartly, "No, and I understand that. But you have to let me do this. It's what I do."

She stared him down, watching resignation and then acceptance slip into his gaze.

Stefan added, "It's what I do, too
.
"

And that seemed to settle Roman. He stared moodily up at the ceiling.

Shay felt for him. Talk about being pushed out of his comfort zone. And she knew he didn't really understand what they were talking about. Would it help for him to have a different type of demonstration?

Stefan spoke in her head.
Go ahead if you want to.

She grinned, watching Roman's frown deepen.
I don't think Roman is ready for another one of those displays
.

"Maybe he needs it. How else can he understand?"

Again Roman’s deep blue gaze fixed on her. "Need what?" Suspicion laced his voice.

"It doesn't matter." She shrugged. "You don't need a demonstration right now, and I'm too tired for one anyway."

"What kind of demonstration? Stefan already gave me one." Roman leaned forward. "And how invasive would it be?"

"Not. And this would be what I can do." She said with a smile. "I could just walk in your footsteps today and tell you what you did."

He shook his head. "Like that would help. I was with you all day."

She laughed. "Good point. Then I'll read your energy and tell you about where you spend it."

He tilted his head. "Spend it. What does that mean?"

She leaned forward until they were eye level. "I can tell where your energy goes on a daily basis. It doesn't have to be too personal. For example..." She paused and shifted her viewing angle. "You have a close relationship with Gerard, and even though you pretend not to worry, you generally call him several times a day."

He smiled. "Of course I do. Look at his age and the personal loss he's sustained lately."

She smiled. "But you didn't have that same relationship with your grandmother or your aunts and two uncles."

"Two uncles?" he shook his head. "I believe I have only one."

She studied his energy again. "Two males and one female on that level."

"One male and one female," he corrected. "But that's all right, what else?"

Wanting to avoid an argument, but knowing he'd ask his grandfather, she studied his energy again. "You enjoy your job, but for you it's a nine to five commitment." She frowned. "Your painting is your joy. And..."

"Again, that's all superficial and has been discussed before."

"And I'm not trying to invade. Remember? However, if you want more… I can see an incident in high school that badly affected you. You lost someone you were very close to."

He straightened, a look of surprise coming over his face. "You spoke to my grandfather about that," he accused.

"No," she said gently, "I can see you dedicate a certain amount of your energy to honoring her."

"Her?" his voice was hard, stiff. "How could you know that this person is female?"

"Because you funnel soft, gentle energy in that direction. Loving energy that goes way into your past. Not to a child. Not to an animal, and yes, I can see those, too. Like your golden lab you grew up with, called Rex."

He sat back. What else could she know? Did she know about his paintings of her? Damn he should have told her himself. He didn't want her to find out this way. And yet this so wasn't the time.

Or was it?

She smirked. "Convinced?"

And the moment passed. Relieved, he smiled. "Well, I certainly am convinced you can access information in my past. How accurately, I don't know. Rex was my dog – a wonderful dog. He died when I was fourteen. I thought my world had ripped apart back then."

"But nothing compared to the loss you sustained when you were seventeen." She couldn't help but soften her voice. His pain had been real, his honoring of that special person a daily fact. One he continued to expend energy on her every day. "I can tell she's still important to you."

He said starkly, simply, "She is. She was my sister."

***

Goddamn it, Shay. What the fuck were you doing there
The walls glared back, providing no answers.

How had she been there – like that? In that form. It wasn't possible. I only went back to the area to see if you'd been found – and what did I find – you in astral form.

Try to follow me, would you? Not likely.

Not in any way. There were limitations to energy work. But there was no way Shay was anywhere close to them. It wasn't possible that she could be that good.

No way you did that on your own. It had to have been a fluke. I've tried to do something similar to shadow walking – and I failed. There's no way you're better than me. You had to have help.

There could be a few others who could do this energy work – maybe. But not Shay. Not like that. Never that bitch. Darren had explained about Shay's holier-than-thou attitude to life and money and how it pissed him off. He'd loved knowing how superior he was to her. Knowing that she had no idea how he fooled her. That his skills were strong and that knowledge gave him a sense of power.

A power that was somehow false. He'd died. Shay didn't.

And that had to be fixed. Shay couldn't be allowed to live.

Darren had planned on killing her. That he had died in her place was a wrong that had to be righted.

But how? There hadn't been enough time to kill her at the cemetery. Not with so many people around. So I went back to see if I could finish the job.

And saw Shay. On the ground where I left her…but standing up in astral form as well, now that had been...bizarre. Shay had been so clear. Easy to identify. How? What happened? There'd been another sort of energy there, too. But that wasn't recognizable either.

Another person? Part of Shay's energy, even though it looked different? It would be great to think Darren's ghost had been going after Shay, but it hadn't felt like him.

No one else understood both the freedom and the sadness of living like this.

No one cared.

There had to be an outlet for this rage. Now.

Someone was going to die.

Tuesday evening…

S
hay entered the hospital and walked to Pappy's room. Roman walked silently at her side. He'd been unapproachable since her demonstration earlier. She couldn't really blame him.

His energy didn't reach for her or slide or caress her energy any longer. No. His energy swirled as if he wore a glass jar around his body with the colorful energy inside. Yet it wasn't angry.

Whatever she'd stirred up, it had brought on a major deep-thinking session.

Her insights were obviously a very sensitive subject.

But one they'd need to broach sometime in the near future because the bond was growing, deepening between them.

He couldn't hide his feelings any more than she could avoid seeing how his energy slipped around hers and melded and blended them into one. She felt the little strokes, the little brushes of his essence constantly. Her own energy stretched eagerly, reaching for him.

Normally, his energy responded in kind. Except right now.

He was locked down, big time. She could understand. He needed to do something. He needed to be able to put a stop to this nightmare. But she didn't have any answers or any way to stop it.

They reached Pappy's door in silence. Roman stepped back to let Shay enter first. Gerard was already there. He looked up and smiled when they walked in.

"There you go, Charles. Look who finally got here."

Pappy smiled and Shay rushed over. She reached down and gently hugged him. "How are you feeling?"

She studied him intently; his face was pale and wan. "You didn't sleep well, did you?"

"I'm fine." He patted her hand. "Don't you worry."

"Well, I will regardless, so you might as well let me." She dropped a gentle kiss on his forehead. "What about the tests? Did the doctors get the results?"

He shook his head. "None that say anything. I didn't have a stroke. My heart seems fine. I just seemed to have blanked out."

Shay smiled. "I'll talk to them. See if they have any other concerns, tests they can do."

She stepped back, letting Roman in closer, and then walked into the hallway to see if she could find the doctor. Seeing no one, she headed to the nurses' station and asked about her grandfather's test results.

"Sorry. The doctor is here but hasn't gotten to your grandfather yet." The harried nurse paused her clicking on the keyboard long enough to look up and answer. "Everyone is running behind right now."

That was normal. Shay understood. "I'll wait for him then. Thanks." She turned and starting walking down the hallway. There were various carts and doors at this end of the floor. She passed a trolley full of folded laundry, and a hamper at the end of the trolley that held dirty laundry. She stopped and looked at the dirty hamper.

Something was wrong with the picture. She switched her vision on and studied the energy. A nasty black swirled up around the garments in the bin. Oozing, murderous black energy.

Oh shit.
She whirled around, searching for the energy trail. The black
came
from the hallway that led toward Pappy's room. That energy hadn't been in his room earlier, and Pappy should be safe with both Roman and Gerard to keep watch. Should be...

Her heart sped up. She was almost running by the time she reached Pappy's room, only to realize the energy trail carried on past. But there was a large collection at the doorway where it must have wallowed for a moment, as if the person looked in and considered this room and then moved on.

She studied the doorway. The black had pulsed here, gathering tighter together.
In anger? In frustration?

Then it had moved on.

That information stalled her. Shay
had
automatically surrounded her grandfather with healing, protective energy, but she hadn't done anything to the doorway.

But there was other residual energy there. Something had prevented entrance to the room. Could Stefan have…? She stepped back, opened her inner vision, and gasped.

Bernice.
The doorway was outlined with the residual energy of Bernice's soul. Connected as always – to Pappy.

Her heart stalled, and then she smiled happily. The trio had a unique relationship, and no one could ever doubt the power of their bond. Now, when Pappy was in trouble, Bernice was still protecting him.

And as for that horrific energy... Shay walked slowly to the next room, where the energy entered and looped back out and turned down the hall again. She stood at the entrance and followed the trail with her eyes. The energy swelled with emotion. It tossed and roiled with the need for expression – and it had found it.

The elderly woman on the bed had half fallen to the floor. Even from where she stood, Shay understood it was too late to help her.

She studied the energy, knowing she had to go back to the nurses' station and report what she’d found. But she needed confirmation, if she could find it, evidence that this woman had died of something other than natural causes. In her heart she knew the autopsy would say she died of a heart attack. The black energy had entered the woman's body at the heart chakra and only the heart chakra. The angry entrance had slammed into that poor woman and given no quarter. From where she stood, Shay couldn't tell if the energy had drained from the woman or if she'd been given such a hard jolt that, in her weakened condition, the assault had finished her.