Touching Darkness (26 page)

He walked over to an aquarium and petted a black mouse that was reaching toward the top of the tank. “Astrid 4222 is doing well so far.”

“Astrid 4222?”

“I name them all after my late wife.” When Amy gave him a questioning look, he said, “She adored the mice. She made their food from scratch and apologized for what we were doing to them. I don't like to hurt any creature. If I could do this without them, I would. I've been working on the antidote for many years, using mice as subjects like Darkwell once used people. I feel sorry for the mice. I felt sorry for the people. He never did. I gave Astrid 4222 the latest version just before you arrived. I'll have to see how she fares through the night.”

“Lucas and I, we sent off for a test to make sure we weren't related. When it came back, there was a note about our DNA having an extra marker.
This stuff changed our DNA.
”

The mouse trotted to its wheel and furiously ran.

Richard's gaze was on the mouse. “We have twelve strands of DNA, but ten of those are considered junk DNA or shadow DNA by scientists. The
stuff
, as you put it, activates some of those other DNA strands. But, unfortunately, it overactivates them for us who have psychic abilities. Thus, the exaggeration of our powers, and also the mental deterioration. You said your boyfriend is breaking down. What are his symptoms?”

“Storms of precognitive images so painful he passes out. We know what happened to Jack Stoker, how he killed people. Lucas is afraid he's on his way to doing that…to us.”

Richard closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “Jack Stoker. That was when we couldn't deny what was happening. I felt the side effects, too. And when I saw the subjects dying, I went into hiding. I didn't want to end up like them.”

“But how could you stop it? You would eventually end up like them anyway.”

He looked at her, his gaze so hard it gave her a chill. “Some of those deaths were a result of the insanity. Those Jack Stoker killed, Camilla Aruda, who accidentally set herself on fire. But the rest…they weren't accidents. That was Darkwell covering his tracks. Those people were murdered.”

L
ater that afternoon, Nicholas and Olivia reached Arcadia, the small town between the Shenandoah Mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains. She loved the rural countryside, which was flanked by mountains on either side.

Nicholas sat in studied silence as he looked for landmarks. “I remember that farm with all the painted horses.”

He turned onto a dirt road and left a trail of dust behind them as they drove for about a mile. He pulled into a small alcove and turned off the car.

“So how does this work?” She nodded into the forest. “You just think about the item and go right to it?”

“Usually. It's not as precise this time because I'm trying to zone in on a memory of something that's no longer there.” He started to walk away. “Give me a couple of minutes.”

“Where are you going?”

“When I go into find mode, my eyes look…different. It freaked out the first girl I ever had a crush on. She thought I was possessed by the devil.”

“How long ago was this?”

“I was twelve.”

“Hm, so the last and only time you let someone see you was over ten years ago. And it still bothers you that much? That is serious.”

He narrowed his eyes, obviously realizing she was mirroring the conversation they'd had about Liam and her feelings for him. “What shattered my young, tender self then would only bother me now, but the echo of that humiliation is still there.”

She smiled at the thought of him as that young, tender boy. “You were trying to find something she'd lost?”

“A sweater. I loved being her hero when I found her missing ring.” He stared off into the woods. “There's something compelling about finding something that's lost. I see now that it goes back to thinking I could find my father, because my mom always said we lost him. But it didn't end there. Finding something that's lost makes me feel complete. It's hard to explain.”

She tilted her head. “And do you, Nicholas? Do you feel complete?”

He considered it for a moment, finally looking at her. “No.”

Her heart opened for him. She could so clearly see him looking for his father, and still looking, always looking.

Probably sensing the gravity of her thoughts, he said, “Be right back.”

She grabbed his arm. “Oh, no you don't. I want to see you. And it's only fair. You've watched me.”

He hesitated, then bowed his head in defeat. “Touché.”

He sat down and leaned back against a tree trunk. “It's weird, but I can't close my eyes. They have to be open to see.” He was quiet for a moment. “I don't think I can do this with you watching.”

She was crouching next to him. “Yes, you can. I'll back up a bit.” She sat down a few feet away.

He released a sigh, and his body relaxed. His eyes went completely black, and she did have to admit it looked a bit like an evil movie she'd seen once. It was more intriguing than scary, though. She could see black swirls in his enlarged pupils. Tremors moved across his body. A minute
later, his eyes shrank back to normal, and he took a quick breath.

“You don't look as odd as you think. Or scary.”

“I just didn't want to freak you out.”

“Oh, I'm long past that.” She gave him a wry grin. “Did you find it?”

He got to his feet. “I found where it was. Let's go.”

He had a look of intense concentration, and she held her comments so as not to distract him as they walked into the woods. He wore a backpack, and she carried a bag with some food and supplies. He'd warned her they'd be roughing it, at least in her terms. Sleeping outside with bugs and animals and the like wouldn't be as bad as the last few days, though.

“Wait up,” she said breathlessly, as his pace picked up.

They'd been walking for twenty minutes now. The silence, apart from their footsteps, was nice. The late-afternoon sun slanted down between the trees in streams of light. Dust motes danced in those streams like fairies, and the sun felt good whenever she walked through one.

After another twenty minutes, he came to a sudden stop. He dropped his backpack and started turning in a circle. She remained several feet away. His eyes went dark, his expression tense.

A moment later they returned to normal. “It was here, the eye, the piece of aircraft.” He took a deep breath. “Being at the site brings it all back.” He walked several yards away and dropped to his knees, pushing at the layer of leaves on the ground.

She watched over his shoulder. “Did this search have anything to do with my father?”

“I don't know. I'd never heard of him at that time. I only dealt with Pope, but seeing him at the estate makes me wonder if they were working together all along. I'm baffled as to why they're acting as though they weren't. Pope didn't indicate we knew each other, not a hello or anything.
In fact, I could have sworn he gave me this look, almost hypnotizing, that clearly told me not to acknowledge him.” He went back to digging. “I'm sure they did a search of the entire area, but I want to look anyway. Maybe we'll find something.”

They spent the next two hours digging around in the leaves with a trowel and hand rake and searching in the crevices of trees. As the sun began to cast long shadows across the ground, she sat down and saw he'd given up, too.

“If this thing is so important, why can't you find where the piece is now?”

He dropped to the ground next to a tree. “I tried it. I got nothing, as if it didn't exist. But it wouldn't hurt to try again.”

He went into that unknown place again. He had thick, nicely arched eyebrows, and his mouth had a bit of a pout. Maybe that was what made him such a great kisser.

His eyes returned to normal. “I found it.” He scrambled over to the backpack and pulled out a map, unfolding and leaning over it. “I'm seeing a spot south of here, a white building in the woods. No signs.”

It still amazed her that he could
see
anything. She stifled her scream as a black beetle ambled across her hand. “Being captured or bugs? Bugs are good. Nice bugs.”

He smiled. “That's my girl.” His smile faltered. “Not
my
girl…”

She cat-walked over to him on her hands and knees. “Why not, Nicholas? Why not your girl? You do like me, don't you?” She gave him a teasing smile, but she wasn't going to back down this time.

He didn't smile back. “If you get too close to me, I'll hurt you.”

“Hurt me how?”

He released a breath. “I'm going to die.”

Those words thudded like stones in her chest. The word “Why?” came out as a squeak. “Because of my father?”

“It's fate. I've had the same nightmare since I was a kid. I die in a fire, then I see my funeral, my mother and sister crying.”

Of all the crazy things she'd seen, this was one she couldn't accept. “How do you know for sure?”

“My father had the same kind of nightmares about being shot. His came true. So will mine. You're in the dream, Livvie, one of the mourners at my funeral. You were sobbing, and God, I could hear your heartbreak. I don't want you to hurt like that.”

Fire. Like Jerryl died. She shivered, but the heaviness settled into her bones. She remembered his reaction when he saw the candles on his birthday cake. “That's why you only got involved with women who didn't want anything permanent?”

He nodded. “I saw how your first boyfriend's death still hurt. I tried so damned hard not to get involved with you.” He gave her a sad smile. “I'm still trying. When my father died, my mother was devastated. She never married again, never even dated. Every day she aches from the loss of her one true love. I don't want to do that to someone. I keep my distance, even with her and my sister.

“It was easy not to get involved with anyone, not on a deep level. Like you said, I'd never met anyone who made me want to. Then I met you. It should have been easy not to get involved with you. There were the rules, and you are—were a rule follower. Our paths are totally different. We're different.”

“But you kissed me anyway.”

He nodded, a soft smile on that lush mouth of his. “Kissed you and completely fell in love with you. I realized how much when I was trying to find you that night.”

Fell in love?
Her heart stopped beating. She felt the answering pull of her heart. But he wasn't smiling or making a declaration. “Don't look so grim. You saved me, after all.”

“Go to your cousin's house. Stay away from here until it's over.”

“Stay away from you?”

He nodded.

Anger bubbled to the surface. “Don't you dare to try protect me. I've spent my whole life being protected and controlled.” She stood. “I'm not that manipulated Daddy's little girl anymore.”

He looked up at her. “You need time to figure out who you are.”

“You're right, and what better way than to dive right in.” She stripped off her shirt.

That sent him to his feet, grabbing her shirt and trying to put it over her. “Livvie, you don't know what you're doing.”

“Hm, let me see. I'm taking off my clothes.” She slid her pants down her legs and stepped out of them. She unclasped her bra and flung it aside, then slid her panties down. “Does that about sum it up?” She jabbed her finger into his hard chest. “You woke up this tiger inside me, and now you're going to make her purr.” She started unbuttoning his shirt.

“Livvie…”

She pushed his shirt back. “Do not tell me you won't touch me because you want to protect little ole me from making some big ole mistake because I'm not in my right mind. Maybe I'm not. But you're going to put me in my right body.”

She reached down and unsnapped his jeans, feeling a surge of her feminine power and such heat radiating through her, she had to fight to keep from ripping off his clothes. She loved that he looked shell-shocked but that his body was right on track. She pushed both his pants and briefs down in one action, and he stepped out of them. She kissed her way up his legs, feeling his coarse hairs pressing against her lips, loving the feel of them and his hard muscles.

Face-to-face, she said, “Stop fighting what we both want. You've done the honorable thing—now give in.” She kissed the soft, pale skin on his hip, traced her tongue around his belly button, and kissed her way up his smooth chest. When she reached his collarbone, she slid her fingers around his penis, and he groaned.

She kissed him, pushing him against a nearby tree, devouring him with her mouth as she continued to stroke his penis. He slid his hands behind her head and plunged into the kiss. She pulled him down to the ground but twisted so that he was lying down. Crouching over him, she felt like a tiger as she prowled over his body, taking her ever-loving time, teasing, loving on him with her lips, and finally taking him into her mouth.

All day she'd been bouncing between different emotions: anger, confusion, and lust. She'd spent enough time with the first two. Now it was time for lust.

Except you feel more than lust for this man.

Shhh.

She loved running her hands over his body, loved hearing his labored breathing, feeling his body tense in pleasure. But she didn't want him to go too far. She kissed back up to his throat. With a growl, he turned her over and nuzzled her neck, then nibbled her ear. All the while, his hands roamed her skin. She shivered in pleasure.

That was nothing compared to when he went lower, putting his mouth where his hands had just been, loving on her breasts, every inch. She plunged her fingers into his hair as her body arched. His hand slid down over her stomach and teased at the edge of pubic hair and the ridge that led to her inner thigh. He feathered his fingers across her soft skin there, inching closer to where she throbbed with wanting. Her breath came in soft pants as he trailed his tongue across her stomach, following the path of his hand.

His fingers slid between her legs, where she was already wet, and spread them so he could slide between her folds. His mouth followed. The delicious build of her orgasm
thrummed through her when his tongue dipped and swirled. Just as she was about to fall over the edge, he kissed her inner thigh, only to make her gasp with a flick of his tongue on her swollen nub. Her body tightened so much it hurt.

He was teasing her, knowing she was about to go off and not letting her. She moved into his mouth, and he slyly evaded her. She was nearly pulling his hair now, her breath in staccato bursts, and finally he gave her what she wanted, needed, desperately needed.

Her orgasm shuddered through her body, and she knew what the phrase
rock her world
meant now. Then he dipped his tongue in again and sent her rocketing off once more.
Holy…holy…
She didn't even know she could go twice.

He worked his way up to her neck again. “Livvie, we can't go all the way. I don't have a condom.”

He really was trying to protect her, in more ways than one. “I do.” She twisted around and grabbed the box she'd bought at the store earlier that day. Seeing the display had revved her up, and on impulse, a very non-Olivia thing to do, she threw the box into the basket.

His eyes filled with both surprise and pleasure. She opened the foil package and slid the condom down his shaft. She batted her eyes, looking up through her lashes at him. “My, what a big, bad boy you are.”

He grinned. “And what a bad girl you are.”

She put her arms around his shoulders. “Mm, you bet. I kinda like this Olivia.”

“Me, too.”

While he was still sitting, she sat on his lap facing him. She eased onto him, and he fit perfectly, tight and snug. Her breasts brushed against his chest as they kissed, and even the slight movement sent shock waves through her. With his hand bracing her lower back, he tilted her back, and she felt him push even farther into her. She began to rock, slowly, then faster.