Psychic Visions 08-Now You See Her... (17 page)

Dean really just wanted to go home and rest but knew that wasn’t likely on the agenda. He pulled out his phone to check the time and saw four new messages from his mother.

He quickly dialed her. “What’s the matter?”

“Jeremy wasn’t in his bed when I woke up at six this morning, I searched the house. He’s nowhere to be found.” She sounded hysterical.

Shit.

T
ia’s heart sank
at the curt explanation as Dean cut off the first phone call then made a dozen more. He turned from being a warm caring individual with his own oddness to a flat stared, cold incredibly intimidating cop before her eyes.

In a way it was reassuring. When the situation demanded, he stepped up. His son was in trouble. Because of her? Surely this guy – whoever had messed her up – wouldn’t go after a child to get back at her. Or was he paying Dean back for helping her? Different possibilities ran through her mind.

He’d have no problem hurting a child to get the results he wanted. He’d done it many times before, so if he was behind the kidnapping then there was a hidden game plan. He never did anything the simple way.

Dr. Wilhelm had been very particular that rules were followed correctly. Grant money depended on results, he’d say. Real money depended on real results, and the only way to get those was to have the protocol rules followed. He’d fired more than one tech over this.

She used to laugh over it because it made her feel superior to know that the crazy doctor had to follow someone else’s bidding as she did his.

Not much fun at the time, but then she’d thought it was only short term and that he was trying to help her. Her parents were supposed to pick her up that first summer for the holiday, and she’d planned on never coming back. Only they never came. There’d been no contact since Christmas, and they’d missed every holiday in between. Still, there had been hope, until the doctor made it clear she didn’t count. Her parents didn’t want her. He was the only one who wanted her, and she was so much better off with him.

Like hell.

All she did all day long was get her arm pricked for new blood tests, and do demonstrations. Play with his stupid toys, even the fancy ones from some labs. Wilhelm had spent thousands of dollars on items that would affect her abilities. Sometimes her abilities changed, and she often got too tired to control her energy the way he wanted her to.

She tried to hide her abilities but it didn’t always work.

He truly believed her quality of life improved with him. Maybe it had, at least in the beginning. When she entered puberty, her abilities had been erratic as hell. They’d also increased tremendously. She had to admit that as much as she hated him for what he was doing to her, he did it because he believed in her and that he could replicate the results artificially. He wanted to create applications for military use, medical use – although how her stupid ability to blend into the world around her would help anyone who was sick she didn’t know.

But he figured the interests would be global. Unfortunately, he died before he achieved that goal.

Good thing for her.

He’d died in the lab. A kid attacked him, she’d heard. Chaos had reigned. When she’d finally managed to get the hell out of there, no one was left. She had walked right out of the damn place and never looked back. Over the years she’d been afraid that maybe that had been a rumor, and Dr. Wilhelm was still alive. Her biggest nightmare, that old fear that he’d somehow survived and would find her.

The only one she missed was John. She’d connected to him in a way she hadn’t been able to others. He’d had some weird ability, but she didn’t know exactly what it was. All she knew was that Wilhelm had been excited when John arrived.

John had been older than the other kids. And more developed. He’d been cute, approachable and for a hurting teen like her, he’d been a rock star. She’d crushed on him for weeks. He’d given her the bracelet she’d lost in that fight for her life. She’d been delighted, then he was gone.

She wondered what happened to him.

She remembered various names of the people who’d worked in his lab, but they were all students and she only knew them on a first name basis. They’d been much nicer than the long-term technicians, but just when she was at the point of being friends with them, they were gone the next day. It gave her quite a complex until she realized the good doctor was doing it on purpose to keep her isolated so she would stay close to him.

That wasn’t possible. She already knew her life was never going to change if he had his way, so why get closer if he’d never let her go? Better to make friends with others and hopefully find someone sympathetic to her plight. Hell, people were letting animals out of testing laboratories all the time. Crazy groups were going in and breaking them out if there was no other way.

Why was no one breaking her out?

It took her years to understand the answer.

It was because no one knew she was a prisoner. They all just thought she volunteered.

She turned to look at Stefan. Fatigue had wrinkled the skin around his eyes. Also now there was a hum to his features as if something was alive she hadn’t seen before. His eyes were brightly focused. He was in working mode.

He was looking for answers to the disappearance of Dean’s son. He used his abilities to help others. Her abilities on the other hand were ridiculous. Oh wow, she could look like a wall.

So not helpful.

Her glance fell on Dean, once again back on the phone calling his mother.

“Good, I’m glad they are there already,” he said. “I’m on my way.” He was already walking toward the door.

She figured his whole world had collapsed. And she’d been forgotten. Maybe that was a good thing.

“Dean,” Stefan called to him. “It’s all related.”

Dean carried on towards the door as if he hadn’t heard. Tia looked over at Stefan, but his eyes were closed and he appeared to be relaxed, sleeping even. She frowned, not sure what to do. She stood, ready to take off after Dean and tell him what Stefan said, but he hit an invisible force and came to a shuddering stop.

He spun around. “What the fuck!”

“The energy in this mess is connected to Tia. We knew there was always a chance of him finding out about your involvement. But we hadn’t considered they could easily track your mother and therefore find your son.”

Dean looked at Stefan. “You helped my son before. Can you track him now?”

“If I can’t, I know someone who can,” he said. “He’s a relatively new addition to my group, but he’s a hell of hunter.”

Tia looked at him closer. “Group?”

Stefan tossed her a casual look. “Group.”

She was desperate to ask more questions, but Dean was already talking. “How do we get his help?”

“I’ve already contacted him.” Stefan headed to the door. “I need to see the inside of the room Jeremy was taken from.”

“I’m coming,” Tia said, running after Stefan. “If this is because of me, I want to help.”

“You’re not going to be able to,” Dean said. “You’re just going to be in the way.”

“We don’t have time to argue. Let’s go.” She opened the truck door and hopped into the back seat. Stefan jumped into his car.

Dean threw up his hands and raced to join them.

*

What the hell?
Why were they all coming? Dean needed to focus on getting his son back. Not on all the rest of this shit. He knew that was important, but his son came first.

“We’ll get him back, I can track his energy. He’s in good health and relatively happy. At the moment he thinks he’s on an outing with one of your friends.”

Dean shook his head. “None of my friends would do this to him.”

“No, but he doesn’t know that.”

“Damn it.” He pulled the truck onto the main road and took two turns to find the road already blocked with cops. His spirits brightened. “Good, they’re here already.”

“Has an Amber Alert gone out?” Tia asked.

“Doing that right now. I have to confirm the description of the clothes he’d been wearing.”

Stefan smiled. “Spider-Man pajamas.”

“How did you know?” Dean glanced over at him warily. The things this man could do were freaking scary, but he was damned glad to have his help. “Where do we meet your hunter?”

“Hunter is on his way. He won’t bother you. He needs to get the scent, then he’ll take off again.”

“Oh, he uses dogs.”

“No,” Stefan said with a smile. “He’s just very smell and instinct oriented. Trust me, he’s good at what he does.”

Dean wasn’t going to argue. If he had everyone out looking they’d find Jeremy easier and faster. Every moment counted. He pulled into the driveway and parked.

His mother detached from a large group of people and ran towards him, waving her hands, tears running down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry,” she cried out. “I don’t know how he got in. The doors were locked, the security system was on, but this morning I found it off and the door open. I don’t know how anyone could steal a child.”

Dean took her in his arms. “It’s not your fault, Mom. If someone wanted to get in, they’d get in regardless. I’m grateful they didn’t hurt you in the process.”

But that’s not what she wanted to hear. “Maybe if they’d hurt me they’d have left him behind.” The floodgates burst, and she buried her face against his chest.

He wanted to do the same thing but couldn’t afford to indulge. The longer it took to find his son, the harder it became.

“I have to go inside,” he told her gently, giving her a hug. “Tia is going to sit with you while I talk to the men.”

*

Tia stepped up
and wrapped an arm around the woman, leading her inside to the living room of the small bungalow. The woman let herself be seated, although she curled up into a ball and rocked herself back and forth. “I’ll make us a cup of tea,” Tia said, not knowing how to help but needing to do something. Was there anything but tea to offer? She figured a hefty shot of brandy might do the trick, but if one wasn’t used to it, it could be hard to get down.

Dr. Wilhelm had run a series of tests with her and various alcohols in an attempt to determine what helped and what hindered her abilities. None hindered the abilities, but too much affected her ability to control them. Duh.

He’d been consistent though in figuring out what affected her and what didn’t. She couldn’t do hard liquor at all. She’d gotten violently ill. A glass of wine was fine. But she didn’t drink alcohol so none of it was a problem.

While the water was boiling, she stared out the window, watching men search the property and the neighborhood around her. Small picket fences dotted the backyards and every yard was being systematically checked.

Stefan walked into the kitchen. “Are you okay?” he asked. “We can’t forget your own health in this emergency.”

“I’m fine.” She snorted. “Sure, as long as I don’t focus on the fact that this happened because of me.”

“Not because of you. He’ll do whatever he needed to do to get at you. If this works, he’s happy. If it doesn’t, he’ll try something else.”

“Then let him have me,” she whispered. “Use me as bait to get Jeremy back. I can’t live with that on my conscious.”