Psychic Visions 08-Now You See Her... (28 page)

You’ll get used to this – eventually.
A ghostly laugh rippled through her mind.
Are you both okay?

She glanced around at Dean. “Yeah, we’re okay.”

Did you see the intruder?

“No I didn’t. Dean,” she turned to stare at Dean. “Stefan wants to know if you saw the guy.”

“No, I had just dozed off.”

She nodded. “No, Stef–”

I heard.

That was going to take some getting used to as well. Telepathy was one thing but Stefan could not only talk in her head, he could also use her ears to hear. How could that be?

Don’t worry about it.

“What do we do now?” she asked.

Dean is already calling the cops.

Once again she turned to face Dean to see his cell phone out and held it his ear. “Jesus, you’re good.”

Easy. You can do it, too.

She snorted. “Sure I can.”

You can, you know.

She shrugged. “Maybe I’ve seen worse.

Of course you have. I heard about his program, you know. I was even there once to try and figure out what was going on. I found you alone. I helped guide you out of there.

“What? Really? That was you?” Well, that explained her “ghostly” escape.

“Hmmhmm. A parent asked me to check it out as she’d been contacted about having her son attend.”

“Maybe it was after Wilhelm died?”

“I’ve been trying to figure that out because the letter she received had his signature on it.”

“Or someone had forged it or more likely had stamped it with his signature stamp. It’s easy enough to whiteout any unwanted ink on the signature line and run it through a copier to get a clean copy. Some of the stamps look original.”

Who ran the place after Wilhelm?

“No idea. That’s when I thought I’d been left alone. I don’t know how long between his death and my escape as I was isolated for most of it.”

There should have been something set up in case of his death.

“This man wasn’t normal at the end. If he thought there was a way to avoid dying and losing his life’s work he’d have tried anything. Hell, he was taking our blood and trying to inject himself with it.”

What?

“Yeah.” She gave a twisted laugh. “He was that kind of crazy at the end. He’d become a groupie, wanting to be like us, but he wasn’t.”

Bizarre.

But she could hear
his
mind humming away in the background. Not just his thoughts but his thought processes. She’d spoken this way with him several times already but hadn’t noticed the fine nuances in the experience. Why now? Why like this?

Because we’re connected mentally. You can hear the energy humming inside my head.

“You know that sounds crazy, right?”

You are saying that? You, who have had how many people say that to you?

“Ouch,” she murmured. “It’s different when you’re on this side.”

His laughter rolled out free and easily.

She frowned and turned back to see Dean, phone in hand, staring at her. Listening to her half of the conversation. Shit. She brightened the wattage of her smile and said, “Hey, did you find anything out?”

“I found out you’re talking to Stefan telepathically,” he said. “That’s the only thing that can account for the odd look to you.” He paused and looked at her in surprise. “Can you talk to other people the same way?”

What? He knew about Stefan’s telepathy? What the hell? She shook her head.

He laughed. “Were you as flummoxed as I was the first time he did it?”

“When did he do that to you?”

“My son was very sick and needed more than the doctors could give him. Stefan’s name was mentioned but he’s damn hard to get a hold of, so one night I was having a mini melt down at the unfairness of life and railing against the powers that be who weren’t helping Jeremy.” He grinned. “All of a sudden Stefan stepped into my mind, explained who he was and what he could do. I was pretty freaked out at the time but then decided I couldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth, and if I was wacko that was fine as long as my son was safe.” He shrugged. “He’s spoken to me a couple of times the same way. Now I’m okay with it, but originally – yeah weird.”

She closed her eyes. “Why the hell would he do something like that?”

Not to scare people, that’s for sure. But it does help cut through the bullshit of trying to get people to believe in what I can do,
Stefan said quietly.
I’m not a circus performer, but like you, I can do things. Sometimes it’s impossible for people to believe you without a demonstration. And when time is of the essence…this way cuts through that.

True enough.
She reached up a hand and massaged her temple.
I’m getting a headache as well.
She considered what she knew about the abilities of those she’d been incarcerated with.

“Is that headache from you?” she asked Stefan.

No, it was from you keeping the energy block between us. But now that it’s gone, your headache is gone too,
he said comfortably.
Or it will be when speaking telepathically becomes natural. Easy.

She stared at Dean. Turned around and glanced back at him.

“What?”

“Stefan is talking about blocks.” She walked slowly back to the couch and collapsed down. “If telepathy is natural, why do I feel weird?”

Because by opening the door to our communication you also opened up to a new space and in that space is a lot of healing energy. Energy that your body desperately needs and wants and will do a lot to get – including knocking you out.
Stefan’s voice started to fade. She barely heard his last humorous comment.

…like it just did.

*

“Oh shit. Tia?
Are you okay?” Dean stared at her in shock. “What the hell happened?” He tapped the side of her face gently. “Are you awake?” As she wasn’t answering, he’d take that as a no. He studied the living room where she’d been standing. “Stefan? Do you know what happened?”

Stefan stepped into his mind.
Reaction from opening the door. Her body needs to heal. Let her rest.

“And the asshole that tried to break into the house? This isn’t exactly a good time for her to be unconscious.”

There’s never going to be a better time,
Stefan said steadily
. Her pathways have been blocked a long time. Her skills should have bounced forward a long time ago. Whether by circumstances or by chemical, physical or psychological intervention, her development has been delayed.

“And do you know which of those is responsible?” He couldn’t imagine how her life had been or that she had more skills to open up inside. “She was damn talented to begin with. Going invisible? Wasn’t that enough?”

It is and it isn’t. The physical and psychological bodies are collections of various systems. When one is on, it needs the support of the others. In her case the others are blocked so when she’s using her abilities, she’s pulling from the other systems that are impeded by whatever is happening to her.

“How can we find out? How did I forget she was ill?” He looked at her. Her cheeks were ashen, her lips overly bright.

It’s not your fault. We solved a lot of it. Dr. Maddy helped there. But she has to reconnect to her systems. Not an easy thing. And she’s resisted having any skills for a long time.

“Why would she do that? She might have escaped earlier.” He wouldn’t mind having one or two. At least then he’d feel like he had something to offer her.

There was an odd silence. Inside and out. He sighed. “I guess you heard that thought, huh?”

Of course, but more importantly is what you didn’t say. You have skills, remember. You could hear her when she was invisible – see her in a way others couldn’t. You can communicate telepathically. You have skills and she’s noticed
. The humor in his voice made heat rush up Dean’s cheeks.

She doesn’t need help. She needs time in a secure setting to let down her guard and keep on letting her psyche heal.

That didn’t sound like much. He glanced over at the front door. “That green light was yours, wasn’t it?”

Sure. A security system. But I’d feel better if we moved her to an easier location to guard.

“This appears to be secure considering he couldn’t get in,” Dean exclaimed. “What else can we do?”

He didn’t get in this time. That doesn’t mean he won’t next time, now that he knows what kind of security system is in place. And has time to figure out how to get around it next time.

Dean stared at the front door and realized Stefan was right. “But if this guy has abilities, surely he can track us no matter where we go.” He groaned. “We aren’t safe anywhere. Right?”

Right.

“So we need to go on the offensive.”

Sure. What are you thinking?

“We could set a trap.” The more he thought about it the more Dean liked the idea. Instead of waiting for the asshole to pick and choose, he wanted to make sure this guy came and never left. “What if you left one door unsecured and we get him in, then you secure the door so he can’t get out.”

That would be fine if he happens to get in while we see him. I won’t know what’s happening if he doesn’t trigger an alarm. If you don’t know he’s inside then you are in danger too.

“Unless we aren’t here,” Dean said thoughtfully. “I could get some help from my captain.”

You still need somewhere safe to go.

“Hmmm. Suggestions?”

Back to the hospital would be helpful but she’d fight you there,
Stefan said humorously.
But a similar idea would be good.

“It depends if we’re talking one day or one week. I can take us to a hotel for a day, no problem, but I don’t have an unlimited bank account so a month is out of the question.”

Hmmm

“Stefan?”

No answer.

Stefan had disappeared from his mind. As in here one second and gone the next.

Damn. Dean walked around his living room, hating the idea of being sitting ducks. They needed a safe place that was close by so they could keep an eye on the property and catch whoever was doing this. There was no point in setting this up and having a half hour drive to get back to catch the guy.

He’d been off work too long. He felt like a civilian. That really sucked.

And just like that Stefan popped back in.
There’s a hotel only a couple of blocks away if you are interested.

“There are a lot of hotels a couple of blocks away.”

Stefan’s voice sounded tired, worn out.
It’s owned by a friend of mine. You can have a room for free if you want until this is over. Tell him I sent you. Pack light, move the truck into the garage so you pack up under cover and leave as if you were just out for a shopping trip.

He knew the drill. “Gotcha.”

Making a fast decision, he got the details and wrote them down. “Thanks, Stefan.”

Dean – make it fast. He’s on his way back.

N
othing like waking
up to find yourself in a foreign place with foreign smells and sounds. Tia didn’t move. She assessed the brocade on the walls, the huge full-length windows and sheers blowing gently in the wind. Some blankets supported her and a firm bed lay beneath her.

“Feeling better?”

Dean. Recognizing the voice, she smiled and turned to see him leaning up against a strange headboard. “Where are we?”

“At a hotel,” he said calmly, that gaze of his assessing. “Stefan set it up.”

She frowned, sat up and kicked her legs over the side of the bed. The large room was more like a suite. And there was a bathroom off to the side. She made her way over to it, feeling his gaze on her every step. She had no idea what was going on here but needed a few minutes to wake up and process. She cast her mind back and realized she’d been talking to Stefan, there was a pain in her head, a weird nausea and then nothing.

She hated blackouts.

She used the bathroom and while washing her hands she stared at the image in the mirror. Bright eyes as if she’d had a long rest – what a joke, her hair stuck out everywhere as if she hadn’t washed it in a long time – and maybe she hadn’t. But the bruising under her eyes, that was a constant. There was a huge glass shower behind her. And several big fluffy towels.