Rare Find (3 page)

She stepped under the hot spray of the shower and scrubbed the smell of animals off her skin. The heat washed over her in comforting waves. She bowed her head and let the day and fatigue drain away.

Then it started again.

Pain ripped through her head.

She cried out and clutched the glass doors of the shower. Agony screamed through her nerves and her knees threatened to buckle.

What was going on?

Images slammed through her, but they were woven with emotions that twisted the pictures into sensations. Pain.

Rage.

Panic.

Fear.

The rage was bad, but the fear was crippling.

Tabitha sank to her knees in the shower and could do nothing but ride out the storm. So far the attacks had never lasted long. Water sluiced down her back. The waves of agony wouldn't stop. She had no anchor to hold her safe. She had no protection from this. Her shields were up, but it didn't matter. This energy had stormed right through them and grabbed on tight.

While her mind raced to understand, she felt something so horrific she couldn't understand what was happening. It was as if someone had reached into her head and grabbed her energetic body from inside her skull...as if they were trying to rip her soul from her body.

Noooo!
She screamed and tried to fight whatever demonic energy had so much power that made such a thing possible. She was caught in a struggle to stay grounded. To stay attached to her body.

She curled into a ball and tried to focus. Tried to center herself. She mentally kept her silver cord tucked up inside, but it was hard.

The pain was so strong. The sense of being yanked out of her body…intense. She felt stretched so finite she cried out in terror.

And each wave of pain and violation was stronger than the last.

There was a sense of desperation to this energy. She could feel the need of this thing pulling at her. Its panic. Its terror along with her own.

Somehow it had hooked onto her and she knew it needed her – or something she
had
.

She struggled to hold on, struggled to find the strength to be stronger than it was.

This...thing was desperate.

But then so was she.

Stefan! Help!

The next wave could be the big one. When it came, the pull was shockingly aggressive and too powerful to stand against. Her grasp slipped.

Once that bit of weakening started, she lost the advantage of being the one in possession of her body. An advantage she desperately needed.

And she started to slide.

One more tug and half of her was lifted upwards. She stared down at her bent-over body, as if she were twins joined at the hip. Her physical twin was bent over her legs, her etheric twin was sitting up. She screamed in panic and tried to lean over, tried to return to her body.

But this entity had a formidable hold. A panicked hold. And its panic had become hers.

His rage streamed through her blood.

His fear turned her emotions to icy panic.

Suddenly she was no longer alone. Stefan's powerful energy wrapped around her, supporting her, strengthening her. Keeping her safe.

Remember to love. Fear is the tool of failure. Love is the tool of success.

She struggled with his words. Struggled to grasp his meaning. And she struggled to find her center. That part of her that knew all energy was good. It was the emotions people poured into the energy that made it other than good. Her attacker was afraid. And angry. If she could help it by easing his pain...

Yes. Do it.

Her attacker gave one more tug. But Tabitha's energy had warmed and thinned, heating up more as she tried to send out the right thoughts to help her attacker. Thoughts to calm herself.

With a roar of rage and pain and loss, the link snapped.

Tabitha recoiled from the force with a final cry before she blacked out. Her last vision was that of her empty-shell of a body folded in half in the shower, the hot steamy water slowly cooling as it beat down on her back.

Then she knew no more.

Saturday, mid-afternoon

S
tefan Kronos bolted upright in his bed. His heart screamed at him to run. His body refused to move. His bedroom had disappeared into the foggy dreamscape of a different reality. Waves of energy wrapped around a tornado of emotion. A cry ripped through the air.

Stefan!

Someone was in trouble. Only it was more than trouble. A scream echoed loud enough that he clapped his hands over his ears and tried to block it – but there was no way he could. Finally the volume ebbed enough and he recognized the voice.
Tabitha.

He'd just been talking to her. Even as he emptied his mind and called for her, he double checked the energy signature, hoping he was wrong.

Of course it was her. She'd been on his warning system for weeks now. Ever since her hospital stay. He called out to her again.

No response.

He closed his eyes and sent his consciousness to her house. Not knowing what he'd find, he didn't want to leave his body. He'd met too many strange individuals who would attempt a takeover in a heartbeat if he gave them an opening. That was the problem with being a strong psychic – he knew what existed in the shadow world.

Remembering Tabitha's earlier words about headaches and blackouts, he slipped over to her bedroom and found a pile of clothes on the floor. There was no sign of her. A weird faint roaring sound filled the air waves. From Tabitha or the house or something else?

Tripod howled at the edge of the bathroom, a loud physical mourning that poured ice into Stefan's non-existent veins. What the hell had happened here? In the background, that roaring sound grew louder and louder. If he'd had a body, the sounds and vibrations would have overwhelmed him, sending him to the floor. In this energetic form, he did the best he could and pushed clouds of energy between him and it, trying desperately to distance himself so he could think.

As the roar faded slightly, he sensed a cadence to it. It was animal. Shit. That had to be Tango. The tiger's voice was deep and raspy, as if he'd been screaming.

Stefan shuddered. Something bad had happened. He moved into the bathroom but could barely see for the steam and condensation. The shower door was closed. The rest of the bathroom empty.

Dreading what he'd find, Stefan shifted to the other side of the shower wall.

Shit.

What the hell was happening to her? He hovered over her. Her cord lay hidden protectively in the circle of her body. He could see the rise and fall of her chest as air slipped out of her body with each breath.

This was bad. Like seriously bad.

He backed up slightly and searched her etheric energy, looking for other entities in the small room, trying to get a read on what had happened. The kicked-up emotional cloud of fear and panic said she'd feared for her life. Fought for her life. His only conclusion was that she'd been attacked but won...this time.

But the cost of winning had been devastating to her.

There was no sign of an attacker. No foreign energy that he could see. Unfortunately, her aura was swollen with so much else. Grief for her grandfather, anger that he had left her, a sense of loss as she looked to her future – and then there were the animal energies. So many. Each and every one of them lived in her heart.

Her capacity for caring was huge.

And left it difficult for him to make sense of what should be there and what shouldn't. Adding to the effect, and in response to Tabitha's state, the animals had all responded with their own pain and rage.

What a mess.

And for all he knew, she was still in trouble psychically as well as physically.

Swooping lower, he could see the blue cast over her skin. If she caught hypothermia, that alone would kill her. Her body functioned at the absolute edge of survival level. Her biological system was on rapid shutdown.

Holy hell.

She was under siege from the inside.

And she needed help. Now.

***

Ronin had spent all afternoon working and gotten nowhere. Chasing down leads on a trafficking case that had led to zero progress. Carmichael, another detective in the office, had stopped by to discuss a different case and now Ronin was way behind.

His damn desk was overloaded with his active cases and what had appeared to be a quick stop into the police station had turned out to be anything but. He stared at the stack of files in front of him. Too many files. Again. Always.

He glanced at his watch. He should be able to head out in a few minutes. For Tabitha's sake, he didn't dare stay too late. She needed him.

Now getting her to see that was a different issue altogether.

She was smart and sassy and distrustful of men...

Figures. He sure could pick them. Not that he'd had much choice. Attraction had smacked him up side the head when he'd first met her. Green-eyed leggy brunettes had never been his type. But this one... He'd had to move slowly given her trust issues. He'd made huge steps before her grandfather had passed away. He'd been there for her every day since.

If only he understood what
this
was.

He hated the pain she was in, wanted to help her, but wasn't sure how. Still he'd keep trying. He wanted what his brother Roman had. His brother was unbelievably happy. Grounded. Whatever the hell that meant. He was half of a whole, with Shay, his girlfriend, being the other half.

Ronin had heard about such relationships but hadn't really believed in the possibility. Figured they all turned sour, eventually. Ronin's marriage had as had several long-term relationships. He'd blamed his job. So had they. In truth, the job was an excuse and an escape from whatever bad relationships they had at the time.

What the hell Tabitha was to him, he didn't know.

And the relationship was so new and green it felt fresh. But was he walking down this garden path alone?

Because that would suck.

A young cop walked toward him. Geoff Tollman. After a quick glance around, he pulled a picture out of a large envelope and dropped them both on Ronin's desk.

Frowning, Ronin raised his gaze to Geoff's. "Why did you come to me?"

The young man swallowed and lowered his voice. "I didn't know who else to take it to."

That the two of them had a history played a big part in Geoff bringing the pictures to him. Ronin was pretty sure of that. The kid was his neighbor's son, and he'd helped him get into the force and through the tough years following. He'd been a troubled teen a long time ago, but he'd straightened out and become a hell of detective. They worked in the same department now. Part of the same team and that felt good.

Ronin stared down at the odd photo in front of him. "Where did you get this?"

"It was in the mail."

"Your personal mail?"

"No. Here in the office, along with the other stuff. I saw it on the pile, opened it and brought it here."

Ronin pulled out the rest of the pictures. His old buddy and co-worker, Detective Jacob Harkman, stared back at him. In the background, highlighted by gloomy lights, was an open back end of a truck. Full of cages. Nothing suspicious in itself, but...he glanced up at Geoff. "The pictures don't show anything illegal."

"I know." Geoff shrugged his shoulder. "But why send them?"

"Good question." Ronin stuffed the pictures back into the envelope and spun it in his hand. No postage. No return address. Just Geoff's first name. Spelled correctly. There wasn't anyone else in this office with that same spelling. He dropped the envelope on the side of his desk. "I'll look into it. If you get anything else, bring it to me."

"Sounds good." As Geoff sauntered toward his own desk, he called back, "It's probably nothing."

Ronin hoped Geoff was right. He'd known Jacob a long time. Being a detective took them to all kinds of places, at all kinds of hours. He studied the photos again. What the hell was Jacob up to and why had the photo been sent?

Before he had time to consider the options, his phone rang. Damn.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, he clicked his cell phone and growled, "What?"

Static whispered through his phone, but something about it was straight-out creepy.

He straightened. "Hello? Who's there?"

Help! Taaaa...!

"Hello. Who is this?"

No answer.

He snatched up a pen and jotted the number down. Then stopped. It was his number. His phone was calling his phone.