Touched by Darkness (13 page)

stuff happen, too."

Kara looked at Luz, who nodded her confirmation.

A chill went down Kara's spine. "At least both of

you are all right," she said. "And Mr. Morgan is

coming over to try to figure out what's going on."

"I do not know why you would call that man," Luz

muttered. "He's probably the cause of it."

"Luz, don't say such things!" Kara said sharply. "I

don't believe that."

"Do you think he'll be able to fix it, Mom?" Alex

looked at her solemnly. "Because, he's...
you

know."

"I think he can help," she said neutrally.

Doris returned with a tray bearing four cups of hot

chocolate and a plateful of cookies. "Here we go."

She set the tray on the elaborately carved cherry

wood coffee table. "Something hot to chase away

the chills—in more ways than one."

She handed them each a mug of steaming hot

chocolate and napkins and cookies before settling

down in a big wing chair with her own mug.

"Mine's sugar free," she informed Kara with a

smile and took a sip. "Got to watch the

carbohydrate intake."

"How's the new insulin dosage working?" Kara

asked.

"Just fine. I feel great."

"Mrs. Burgess, do you believe in ghosts?" Alex

asked.

Doris considered thoughtfully. "Well, I don't know

for sure. But I do think there are a lot of

unexplained and unusual things in the world, don't

you?"

He nodded. "Socks disappear in our dryer all the

time, and Mom says there must be a black hole

behind it."

Doris laughed. "Out of the mouths of babes."

"I'm not a baby," Alex protested.

"Of course not. You're a fine young man." Doris

held out the plate of cookies. "Have another cookie.

They always make things better, don't you think?"

Alex happily took another. "Yes, ma'am."

Kara finally felt some warmth seeping back into

her body. She sank back with a tired sigh. "We've

definitely had some strange experiences lately."

She reached out and mussed Alex's hair, needing to

touch him again. "But we're going to get back to

normal real soon. Right, champ?"

"Right, Mom," he dutifully replied, but she heard

the doubt in his voice.

She steered the conversation away from ghostly

topics, and Luz and Doris took her cue, instead

talking about the annual bake sale at the town hall,

which raised funds for senior citizen programs.

"Are you still coming over tomorrow to help me

make cakes?" Doris asked.

Alex looked at Kara, who nodded. "I'm coming,

too," she said, once again reminded of her concerns

about a Belian taking possession of a body, and

cursing fate—and Damien—for bringing doubt and

distrust into her life.

"Cool," Alex said. He loved helping Doris in her

kitchen, partly because he got to sample the goods.

A brisk rapping on the front door alerted them to

Damien's arrival. Doris's eyes widened when she

opened the door and saw him. He filled the

doorway, an imposing figure in his duster with his

hair banded back, and his dark glasses giving him a

menacing appearance. He didn't remove the glasses

and was brief but courteous with Doris, refusing

her offer to come in.

"I need for Kara and Alex to come with me," he

said. He looked at Luz. "And you, as well."

Stepping back he held the storm door open. Luz

took Alex's hand.

"Come,
hijo,
we will see if our
fantasma
is gone."

Alex drew back. "I don't want to go home," he

whispered.

"I'm sure it is all right now. Yes?" Luz stared at

Damien, who gave a curt nod. "There, you see? The

arrogant man has assured us all is well." She swept

past Damien, pulling Alex with her.

Squaring her shoulders, Kara walked to the door.

She gave Doris a quick hug. "Thank you for letting

us barge in on you like this. I'm sure—" She

hesitated, hating to lie, but feeling it prudent to play

this down. "I'm sure that whatever happened at our

house was nothing."

"And I'm sure you're in
very
good hands." Doris

gave Damien another look, leaned close and

whispered, "What a specimen! Now that's the type

of hunk I was talking about the other day."

"Oh, uh, no." Kara drew back. "He— I— It's not

what you think. He's just an... associate."

Doris looked at her over the rim of her glasses.

"Whatever you say."

"Thank you again," Kara said, well aware that

Damien possessed superhuman hearing and had

probably heard every whispered word. "You're

always here when we need you, and it means a lot."

"Any time." Doris stepped back. "I know you

usually work until four. Is five o'clock tomorrow

afternoon a good time for you and Alex?"

"Sounds great."

"See you then." Doris smiled at Damien. "Good-

bye, Mr. Morgan."

He nodded and closed the storm door behind Kara.

"Is it safe to go home?" she asked in a low voice.

"I wouldn't allow you to return if it wasn't." He

turned and strode after Luz and Alex.

She got her truck and drove it back to the house,

while the other three walked over. When she pulled

into the driveway, she saw Max was in the fenced

back yard. He stood at the gate, barking to let them

know he didn't appreciate being left behind. She

told him to hush, joined the others on the front

porch.

They entered the house, Damien going first, then

Kara. Alex and Luz entered warily behind them,

looking toward the hallway leading to the

bedrooms. Alex moved a few steps closer to

Damien. While Kara hated being dependent on

Damien in any way, she had to admit she was glad

he was here. She knew he wouldn't let anyone—or

anything—harm them while he was around.

Damien took off his sunglasses and slid them into a

pocket, then removed the duster and tossed it on the

sofa. "Take the boy into the kitchen until I call

you," he instructed Luz. He looked down at Alex

and the harsh granite of his face seemed to soften a

fraction. "It's all right to be here now," he told her

son. "Your ghost is gone."

Face pale, eyes wide, Alex stared up at him. "Will it

come back?" he asked, his young voice quavering.

"We'll work on that later. You go to the kitchen with

Luz and wait there." Damien turned to Kara. "You

come with me."

She put her purse on the end table, apprehension

tingling through her. She didn't like being

frightened in her own home, or knowing that Alex

might not be safe there. So she focused on

Damien's attitude instead.

"Boy, you sure know how to influence people and

win friends," she muttered, unbuttoning her jacket

as she followed him down the hall.

Beside Alex's bedroom door, he turned to face her.

"Meaning what?"

"Meaning you're rude and abrupt. You snap out

orders like a general. Has it ever occurred to you

that you can catch more flies with honey than with

vinegar?"

The corners of his sensual mouth twitched ever so

slightly. "Now why would I want to catch flies?

Pesky things."

Kara was taken aback. Had she just detected a trace

of humor? Surely not. Most Sentinels were deadly

serious at all times, and Damien appeared to be

straight from the master mold. She pulled her

attention back to the ghost. "Now what?"

"No we go in and let you 'see' Alex's visitor."

Her heart leaped in her chest and she took a quick

step back. "Oh, no. I am
not
doing a conduction."

"I'm not asking you to," he said, exasperation

evident in his tone. "This was not a Belian, but it

was a discarnate entity. I didn't sense any

malevolence, though, no evil. I’m not sure what it

was doing here."

Relief flowed through Kara. She felt like she'd been

on an emotional roller coaster the past four days;

first on a peak of tension and fear, then plummeting

to a valley of respite or at least the feeling another

fire had been put out—if only temporarily—then

starting back up the stressful, frightening slope

again.

"Is the thing really gone?" she asked.

"For now." He opened Alex's door. "Come on."

She followed and observed the signs of chaos that

went beyond a young boy's normal messiness:

books knocked onto the floor, the Captain Picard

poster lying on the bed, some of Alex's framed

soccer award certificates hanging askew on the

walls.

"Do you feel anything?" Damien asked. "See

anything?"

Reluctantly, she sent out tentative mental feelers as

she looked around the room. "No."

He held out his left hand. "Give me your hand."

"I don't know if I want—"

"Damn it, Kara, I know you're not a coward. Give

me your hand."

She took a deep breath, placed her hand in his, and

felt the static electrical shock of touching him.

"Now what?"

"Close your eyes. Use your other sight."

She closed her eyes, but she didn't want to tap into

that dark part of her that she had always despised,

that ability to see actual events in her dreams. She'd

worked at walling it up all her life.

In addition, the sexual energy from her physical

contact with Damien was slapping at her. Her body

tingled and her breasts felt heavy. She tried to pull

away, but he tightened his grasp.

"Just go with it, Kara. Ignore the physical

sensations, and focus on the non physical."

Resigned, she did her best to push away the sexual

energy; to open her senses to the other energies in

the room. In her mental vision, tendrils of gray fog

swirled and snaked, luring her deeper into an

unfamiliar dimension. The fog began to dissipate,

and she 'saw' Alex's room, only it was distorted, as

if she were looking at it through a camera lens.

A flash to the right caught her attention, a trail of

light in a zigzag pattern along the walls. It looked

similar the pattern Tinkerbell had made in
Peter

Pan.

Then she realized the light was still moving, in

streaks that would end one place and then begin

again in a different location. There were also

flashes of light, these more like the pattern of light

made by fireflies at dusk in the summer. A faint

humming sound permeated her mind.

She tightened her grip on Damien's hand. "What's

happening?"

"Our energy link is allowing you to see what I see."

She was so startled, her eyes flew open, and the

images vanished. Instead, Damien filled her field of

vision, big and solid, dressed in a royal blue

sweater over black slacks. "You're conducting for

me?" she asked.

"No. The conductor/Sentinel link enables our

energies to merge, but this isn't a conduction. That,

as you know, involves the third eye, which all

humans have, but few can access. In a conduction,

the third eyes of both the Sentinel and the

conductor are activated, and the individual powers

of each are merged and then magnified

exponentially. You're not seeing through
your
third

eye right now, you're seeing through
mine.
There's

no expansion of energies through the chakras, and

therefore no magnification."

She should have realized that, from the simple fact

that the sexual surge was absent. She simply felt

the pull of the sensual energies that always

occurred when Sentinals and conductors were in

close proximity. "So what did I just see?"

"You saw the energy trail left behind by the entity.

Much the same way you see the remaining vapor

trails of jets in the sky. Because it was in spirit form

rather than physical, you won't see any clear

images. Did you feel anything dark or

threatening?"

"No," she said slowly, trying to recall what she'd

actually felt. "It didn't feel good or bad, it was

just... there."

"You'd have known if it was a Belian. The negative

energy would have been very strong. That's why I

believe this was a benign entity. Sometimes you

can also smell things, usually unpleasant."

She hadn’t noticed any odd odors, although now

she picked up Damien's scent—that same soap and