Manipulating Mikey (First Wave Book 8) (18 page)

“Good, because the transport we got
has soundproof private quarters so we can do that later,” Lauren said and
giggled when Mikey growled low in his throat.

“How did you get a transport for a
half-baked reason like this?” Mikey asked as he moved to the half packed bag he
already had in his room and started throwing things into it.

“I have connections. Meet me in my
room when you’re done.”

Lauren grinned broadly before
heading into her room and packing her own bags. She didn’t have time to really
think about her clothing choices, but she did manage to hide a few intimate
surprises in there before Mikey came in.

“Ready?” he asked as he threw his
bag on her bed and came behind her to kiss her neck.

Lauren sighed and leaned back into
him, her eyes closing as his warmth enveloped her.

“Yeah, just give me a second,” she
said as she went into her bathroom and grabbed a few things.

She finished packing and closed her
bag before Mikey picked it up in one hand and his bag in the other. Ten minutes
later, Indrid, Mikey, and Lauren had ported to Dillon, and Mikey was standing
in awe of the ship that Lauren said they’d be using.

“This thing is huge!” he whispered
in awe.

Lauren laughed and pulled him
towards the opening.

“We have to live on it for a week,
so it better be a decent size,” she said as they entered the craft.

They walked down a corridor, entered
an area behind the cockpit, and sat down beside Indrid before securing their
harnesses for take-off.

“Lift off in 5,4,3,2 . . .,” a
familiar voice said before the craft lifted off and shot out of the docking
bay.

“You may now remove your harnesses;
we have achieved cruising altitude to our destination of 30 miles north of New
Orleans, Louisiana. We will arrive in 20 minutes,” the voice said again.

Mikey looked up in surprised as
Discorian exited the pilot area.

“Hey! You’re the pilot?” he asked.

Disc chuckled at him.

“No, that would be Crator, I’m just
the co-pilot, and Lauren thought that my gift might help if your Emily is out
of consciousness,” he explained.

“How could you help?” Mikey asked.

“I am a spirit walker. If her
consciousness is disturbed, I may be able to reach her spirit and get a
location,” Disc said as he sat down across from them.

“Damn,” Mikey said. “How does that
work?”

Disc laughed while Indrid paid
close attention to the conversation.

“I have no idea; it just does. Like
your gift. When we get close enough to a location where I can sense her energy
well enough, I can use it to try and track her spirit,” Disc explained.

“So you can mess with people’s
dreams?” Mikey asked.

“I could, but I don’t,” Disc said
with a shake of his head. “Like any gift, there is a potential for abuse, and I
carefully walk a fine line between intrusion and assistance.”

“I’m glad you’re here,” Mikey
admitted, grateful that he wouldn’t be the only one trying to use a weird gift
to find Emily.

Mikey looked up in panic when
Crator came in from the cockpit.

“Who’s driving the ship?”

Crator grinned.

“It’s on autopilot to our
destination. This isn’t like a human plane. This thing could fly itself for
weeks if we preprogrammed in the destinations,” he explained before flinging
himself into a chair next to Disc. “What’s the game plan?”

When everyone looked at one
another, Mikey spoke up.

“I thought we were going to the
last place Indrid knew Emily was so I can try and get her energy signature and
follow it.”

“I’ll jump out with you so I can
see if I can catch any energy remnants that I can use,” Disc added.

“I will also go with you,” Indrid
said.

Twenty minutes later, Crator
dropped them several feet from the charred remains of the cabin that Emily had
shared with her mother so long ago.

Mikey, Indrid, Disc, and Lauren
picked their way through the swampy ground to the where the small cabin had once
stood. Mikey looked at the overgrown, burned shell of a home and shook his
head, doubting they’d find remnants of anything in this mess.

“Come here,” Indrid said as he
stood in the middle of the wreckage.

Mikey helped Lauren through the
weeds and muck until he they stood on the charred wood floor next to Indrid.
Mikey looked around and sucked in a breath as he knelt to the floorboards and
touched one of the charred wooden slats.

“She was here,” he whispered.

“This was her room,” Indrid replied
as Disc came up to stand beside them.

Disc knelt next to Mikey and placed
his hand on the floorboard for a few minutes before he shook his head and
stood.

“It’s too weak for me to get a good
lock on it.”

Mikey ignored what was going on
around him as he turned his thoughts inward.

“C’mon Harry, it’s up to us buddy,”
he
whispered in his mind.

Mikey looked up and grinned with
pride.

“I can see it! Hot damn, I can
freaking see the energy trail!”

Lauren squealed with happiness as
Indrid smiled knowingly and Disc patted Mikey on the back.

“Let’s go then!” Disc said as he
called to Crator to port them into the ship.

Once they were inside, Crator
turned to them from the cockpit.

“Give me a heading.”

Mikey was heading to a window to
find the energy trail again when Lauren flipped a switch and the bottom of the
ship shimmered and became clear.

“Oh damn, that rocks!” Mikey
uttered while he looked beneath them for the colored trail of energy that would
lead them to Emily. “Northeast! Head northeast!”

Mikey sat on the clear floor and
watched the ship follow the energy trail in amazement as Indrid moved to sit
beside him.

“You must look for a location where
it is obvious that Emily has stayed for more than a few days. We will stop and
see if the energy is strong enough for Discorian or me to trace it as well,”
Indrid told Mikey as he looked beneath them.

“What do I look for?” Mikey asked,
hoping he wouldn’t screw this up.

“Your energy footprint is stronger
in places where you have spent a lot of time. It is why some human spirits can
leave a print that sensitive humans can see and feel. You will know it when you
see it,” Indrid explained.

Mikey wasn’t sure about anything at
that point, but if he saw any change in the energy path he was going to say
something about it. They couldn’t take any chances and waste any time. He
didn’t think that Emily had that kind of time left.

“OK someone tell me about this
girl. Is she a hybrid? What’s her gift?” Disc asked, curious about the woman
they were tracking.

Indrid nodded his head as he looked
up at Disc.

“Yes, she is what you call a
hybrid. Her gift . . . is similar to yours,” Indrid was still cryptic enough
that it finally got to Mikey.

“How about you tell us what her
gift is, and maybe knowing it will help us find her,” Mikey muttered, not
taking his eyes off the faint trail beneath them.

He heard Indrid sigh and looked
over at the man, more curious than ever about Emily’s gift.

“It is a little difficult to
explain,” Indrid admitted before deciding to tell them what he knew. “She is
not just a spirit walker, although she can do what Discorian can. She is a
spirit magnet. They are drawn to her because she can help release them from the
chains that bind them to the nether realms between worlds. She can also walk
many realms in her mind, which is why she can come to Base Beta.”

“So . . . she can talk to ghosts or
something?” Mikey asked, not sure he understood what Indrid was saying.

“Wait, no . . . yes. He’s saying
she can walk the death realms. Right?” Disc asked, his eyes alight with
fascination.

Indrid nodded solemnly, hoping to
help them understand the reason the girl has hidden herself away.

“She walks the death realms in many
worlds and through the rainbow bridge. If their spirit is clean, they can reach
her here, in this world,” he explained.

“Gods be damned! The poor girl! Who
the hell thought it’d be a good idea to bombard the girl with that?” Disc
asked, feeling anger on the girl’s behalf.

“I don’t get it. Someone explain
it,” Mikey said in frustration. He was getting tired of feeling like he was
working with partial information.

“From the moment of her birth, she
has been besieged by the dead from many different worlds. Even in her sleep,
she doesn’t dream, her mind takes her to other realms where she is inundated by
their dead. Among the realms, she is known as a soul executioner. I do not know
what your people would call her gift. She is someone divinely called upon to
deliver final sentence upon a spirit with the ability to dispatch them to their
proper destination and end their turmoil and misery in the nether realms. She
is an angel of final soul death,” Indrid said.

Mikey looked at Indrid with the
same horrified look that was on the faces of everyone in the ship. Even
Crator’s mouth hung open in shock.

“Gods . . . no wonder why she hides
away from the world,” Lauren whispered in horror.

“That’s not a gift; that’s a
nightmare,” Disc said, shaking his head as he wondered if she was even still
sane at this point.

“So she’s surrounded by the dead
from many worlds?” Mikey asked, making sure he had it right.

“Yes,” Indrid said. “Every moment
of every day, she is surrounded by the dead looking for a way past the nether
realms they are trapped in. Their voices ring in her mind all day and
throughout the night as they beg her for release.”

“They never leave her alone? She
can’t make them go away?” Crator asked in shock.

Indrid shook his head sadly.

“I tried to help her learn control,
but yes, that is what she faces. It is easier for her to be away from others
because they interfere with every part of her life and heavier populated areas
have more dead that are drawn to her.”

“Is she even still sane?” Disc had
to ask.

His own gift could be a heavy
burden to bear and he couldn’t imagine having the nightmare that Indrid called
Emily’s gift.

“I do not know,” Indrid admitted.

Chapter
Eighteen

Mikey rolled over and stared at the
ceiling in the cabin he was sharing with Lauren. They’d stopped to get a few
hours of sleep, but Mikey couldn’t seem to shut his mind down. Between the
search for Emily and hearing about her gift, his mind whirled with the
information overload.

No matter how Indrid had tried to
explain Emily’s gift, it sounded like a sugar coated hell to him. Everyone else
seemed to agree with him. Honestly, it creeped him the hell out to think of
ghosts being real, but to think that Emily had to see them and speak to them
every moment of every day made him shudder.

“It’s disturbing, isn’t it?” Lauren
suddenly asked.

“What, honey?” Mikey asked rolling
over on his side so he could face her.

“Thinking about Emily and her gift.
I can’t imagine what she’s been going through with only her mother to help
her,” Lauren admitted as she cuddled up close to Mikey.

“I still can’t figure out how that
can be called a ‘gift.’ That’s a death sentence to your damn sanity!”

Mikey wouldn’t give a gift like
that to an enemy.

“I know, it’s hard to understand.
We’ve got a lot of hybrids with some pretty interesting gifts, but nothing like
that. Even Disc’s gift is nothing like that,” Lauren said, feeling sorry for
the girl.

“It’s like she lives a nightmare
every day and night with no end to it,” Mikey agreed.

“We’re not getting any sleep are
we?” Lauren asked with a grin, already knowing the answer.

Mikey chuckled and pulled her
closer as he kissed the top of her head.

“Probably not. We don’t need much
sleep anyway,” he teased, then turned serious. “Thank you for believing me and
not going crazy on me. You took all that really well.”

Lauren laughed and squeezed him
around the middle.

“Well, try not to make a habit of
chatting up soul executioners,” she said with a shiver. “Even what they call
the poor thing is creepy as hell!”

“Tell me about it! Can you imagine
being a child and expected to deal with that? I don’t think she’s insane
though. She sounded perfectly normal every time I spoke to her,” Mikey said,
hoping he was right.

“I just hope we find her soon. Grai
said the children are putting on a Christmas play, and I’d really like to see
Tristan and the other little ones. It’ll be so adorable!” she said with delight
at the thought.

Mikey rolled her over and slid on
top of her before kissing her gently.

“Do you like kids?” he asked, as he
trailed kisses down the side of her neck.

Lauren sighed and wrapped her arms
around him.

“I love children. Do you?”

Mikey grinned, knowing what she was
asking.

“I love you and want a good dozen
of them just like you,” he said running his hand down her naked body.

Lauren gasped as his fingers
trailed down and began teasing her. Her body responded immediately, and she
wound her legs around him to draw him closer.

“I love you too. That sounds good
to me,” she whispered then leaned up to run her tongue along his shoulder.

“Mmmm, let’s start trying now
then,” he whispered as he moved above her and situated himself against her
liquid heat.

“Yes—” Lauren said then gasped as
he drove himself inside of her.

*****

Indrid, Crator, and Discorian sat at
a table in the dining area. None of them had bothered to try and get some
sleep. The ship was currently paused above a highway in Mississippi while they
waited for Mikey and Lauren to wake up so they could continue the hunt for
Emily.

“The odds of finding her OK are
pretty slim, aren’t they?” Disc asked.

His heart bled for the poor girl,
and as much as he hoped they could get to her in time, Disc wasn’t sure her
mind had survived intact.

“She is much stronger than you
think. Do not discount her so easily,” Indrid replied. “Such a tremendous
burden would never be given to the weak. I believe whatever is wrong with her
now is not due to her abilities.”

Crator and Disc looked at one
another curiously as they tried to figure out what Indrid meant. The man could
give new meaning to the word ‘vague.’

“What else could it be?” Mikey
asked as he and Lauren came into the room.

Indrid shook his head and sighed as
he looked into his empty coffee cup.

“I don’t know. I just feel that
this is something that is beyond her. That something more is at work here,” he
said, wishing he could explain it to them.

Lauren gave Mikey an affectionate
squeeze, and he leaned down and kissed her cheek before she headed to the
coffee pot and poured them both a cup. Mikey took his from her, pulled her to
his side, and smiled down at his beautiful mate.

He swore she took his breath away
every time he looked at her. Where before he had questioned the mating bond,
now he had no doubt it existed and no regrets that he’d made Lauren his. He
couldn’t imagine spending another day without her.

He leaned down, gave her another
kiss, and then looked up at the others.

“Since none of us can seem to
sleep, how about we get started again?”

He’d barely got the words out
before everyone stood and headed into the other part of the ship where he could
follow the energy trail through the floor. He stood slowly and pulled Lauren
into his arms.

“So did you mean it?” he asked.

“What?” Lauren asked him, wondering
what he was talking about.

“That you love me?” he asked with a
grin.

Lauren smiled and wrapped her arms
around his neck.

“I do love you. But don’t let it go
to your head, you can be a jerk sometimes,” she teased.

Mikey chuckled and picked her up
off the floor and swung her around.

“That’s OK, I still love you even
though you can be pretty bitchy too,” he teased back.

“See,” Lauren giggled. “Jerk!”

Mikey let her body slide down his
own until she stood on the floor again.

“You know, I’d like to try out for
a mission team. Would you be OK with that?” he asked, trying to detect anything
in her energy.

Lauren grinned up at him and
pretended to pick something off his shirt.

“I was thinking that it would be a
good idea for me to consider a mission med team,” she said then rushed to
continue when his expression turned thunderous. “I wouldn’t be in the field,
but in a standby ship. No more jungles for me! Once was enough.”

Mikey considered it for a moment
and nodded his head.

“Only if you’re safe. I’d lose my
mind worrying about you if you were in the field again. Nassau and Mexico were
enough for me. Never again do I want to see you in danger like that,” he
admitted as he moved a strand of her hair behind her ear.

Lauren covered his hand with her
own.

“I would be perfectly safe.
Besides, I wouldn’t want to worry you when you’ll have your own missions to
concern yourself over,” she whispered, then kissed the back of his hand.

Mikey grinned and pulled her into a
hug.

“You are an amazing woman, and I’m
lucky to have you,” he said.

“You guys coming or are you going
to play kissy face all night?” Crator called out, causing the couple to blush.

“We’re coming,” Mikey yelled back.

He stole one more kiss from Lauren
before leading her down the corridor to the others. He helped her into one of
the seats while Crator headed into the cockpit to get the ship moving.

Several hours later they stopped at
a burned out farm in Missouri. Mikey looked carefully around the area as he
helped Lauren walk over the debris laden concrete slab where the home had once
stood.

“Is she setting the places on fire
when they leave or is she being hunted and someone else is burning down her
hiding spots?” Disc asked as he tried to gather enough of Emily’s residual
energy to find her in the spirit realm.

Indrid kneeled to the scarred
ground and closed his eyes as he pulled the surrounding energy to him. In his
mind he could see an older Emily setting the place on fire and hear her
mother’s voice in her head telling her to make sure to cover their tracks
carefully.

“She does it to prevent any trace
being found of their being here. Her mother taught her to cover their tracks
like this,” Indrid said as he stood.

“It’s working,” Disc added in
frustration. “It’s almost impossible to gather her energy. I have no idea how
Mikey is seeing anything.”

“Don’t ask me,” Mikey said as he
stared at the colors all around them. “But she was here a while judging by the
colors and their brightness.”

“Do you believe we are close?”
Indrid asked, hoping they were. He had a bad feeling that they were running out
of time.

Mikey shook his head and looked
around again before he settled on the energy path he could see leading away
from the small home.

“I don’t have a clue. But the
colors are brighter here, which I’m assuming means we’re closer than we were
before but still have a way to go,” Mikey said, throwing his hands up. “It’s
not an exact science.”

“You’re doing fine,” Indrid said
gruffly. “Let’s go.” Then he disappeared.

Mikey quirked a brow at Lauren,
wondering if she knew why Indrid was being so short. When she shrugged her
shoulders, he ported with her back to the ship where they found Indrid standing
over the clear bottom waiting for Mikey to lead them again.

Mikey went ahead, sat on the floor,
and stared at the faint energy path he could see. When Disc was finally back in
the ship he looked back at the path.

“Bear 10 degrees north west,” he
called out to Crator.

“10 degrees north west,” Crator
verified as the ship turned in the proper direction.

Mikey was still a little stunned
that he could do exactly what Indrid said he could do. It was seriously cool,
but a little weird at the same time to be able to track someone down based on
the energy she left behind. When they stayed on the same path for a while,
Mikey looked up and winked at Lauren before he grabbed his comm and began
projecting the vid that Grai gave him on the opposite wall. The position
allowed him to keep watch of the colored energy lines beneath them while he
tried to pinpoint something in the vid that would lead them to Koda.

He’d been watching both for hours
when he saw something below.

“Whoa! Hold up!” he called out and
the ship stopped.

“This is Indiana,” Crator called
back, letting them know where they were.

“Damn, they really travel around,”
Disc muttered as he looked at the darkened scene beneath them expecting to see
another burned shell of a home.

“We need to get down. Now,” Mikey
said as he stood.

“I will go first,” Indrid said,
then disappeared from the ship.

Mikey, Disc and Lauren landed on
the ground and headed towards the dark, but still standing structure. They’d
almost reached the small porch when Indrid appeared from behind the house.

“There is no one here,” he said as
he disappeared again.

“That’s really annoying,” Mikey
said as he headed up the porch stairs and opened the unlocked door.

A stone skittered across the floor,
startling Mikey and Lauren until they realized Disc had thrown a light stone
and the room lit up.

“Man, what the hell happened here?”
Disc asked as he looked around at the completely trashed room.

The combination kitchen, dining
room, and living room appeared to have been ransacked. Broken furniture
littered the room and graffiti marred the walls.

“Burn the witches?” Lauren read as
she pointed at one of the walls.

“That’s sounds a little too
specific to be anything but our girl,” Disc said, feeling a chill go up his
spine that she might be hunted.

Without a word, Indrid walked up to
the wall and placed his hand on it as he sent his energy out. He could feel the
hatred and the anger of the man who wrote it on the wall. It was a powerful man
who was looking for something he felt belonged to him.

Indrid agreed with Disc: someone
with a lot of hatred was after Emily.

“It concerns her, but I don’t think
this is directed at her. Maybe her mother,” he offered as he stepped back from
the wall.

“The colors are a little brighter
than the last time, so I know we’re going the right way,” Mikey said as he
looked around the house.

“Heads up, you have vehicles flying
down the road to your location!” Crator warned through their open comms.

Everyone looked to the window and
saw the headlights of two vehicles coming right towards them.

“Whoever it is may be expecting
Emily,” Disc warned as he pulled his gun and checked the clip.