The Lost Night (12 page)

“I hope Darwina is okay.” Rachel selected a slice of cheese and positioned it on a
cracker. “This is a serious storm and she’s out there in it all by herself.”

She was reluctant to admit it but it was rather pleasant to be sitting here in front of a cozy fire with Harry, drinking the wine he had poured and snacking on cheese and crackers, while the tempest raged.
Even if I am Suspect Number One,
she thought. Clearly she needed to get out more.

“I’m sure Darwina is doing fine.” Harry paused his wineglass halfway to his mouth and fixed her with his riveting gem green eyes. “Don’t forget she’s got that great little girl’s role model with her, Amberella.”

“The doll is made of rez-plastic. Her hair and clothes are all synthetic. Amberella will definitely survive.”

“And so will Darwina.
She’s a creature of the wild. She’s been through other storms on her own.”

“I know.” Rachel flinched as lightning crackled in the darkness, briefly illuminating the windows in a white-hot glare that reminded her of the silver shadows in Harry’s aura. “But this is a bad one. The worst yet, I think.”

“Why did you name the bunny Darwina?”

“I’m not sure.” Rachel took another bite of the cheese-and-cracker combo and munched while she considered the question. “Probably because dust bunnies are such an interesting example of evolution here on Harmony.”

“What does the name
Darwina
have to do with evolution?”

She blinked and then smiled. “Sometimes I forget that not everyone outside the Community got stuck with the same reading list in school that I got stuck with. Darwin was an Old World figure who had a lot to do with developing the concept of evolution.”

“Yeah? Did he write about para-bio evolution?”

“Well, no, I don’t think he got that far but I’m sure he would have if he had lived long enough. His theories were so elegant that they apply to paranormal biology as well as normal biology.”

“Can you see Darwina’s aura?”

“Nope, of course not, at least not in the same way I view human auras. But all living things produce energy fields, and I can pick up some of Darwina’s vibes if she’s in the vicinity.
Just as I will always know when you’re close,
she thought,
even if I can’t see your aura.

Thunder rolled through the night.
The next flash of lightning was so powerful it lit up the entire front room of the cottage. Rachel looked out the window. In the hot, glaring light she caught a glimpse of Harry’s big black SUV parked in the drive and the dense trees that surrounded the cottage.

In the next instant the scene went dark again, but for a few seconds black-and-white afterimages sparked disconcertingly in front of her eyes. She could have sworn she saw ghostly figures moving in the trees. The hair stirred on the back of her neck. She blinked several times to clear her eyes. When she looked out the window again, there was nothing but darkness. She heaved a small sigh of relief.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked.

“Yes. The storm is making me a little jumpy.”

“I know the feeling. A lot of energy out there tonight.”

She decided not to mention that it didn’t take much to put her nerves and her senses on edge these days. Most of Shadow Bay already considered her psychically fragile because of her lost night. She did not want Harry to come to the same conclusion. She made a note to do some deep meditation when she got back to her cottage.

“Looks like Darwina has adopted you the way Rex did Slade,” Harry said. “Or maybe bonding with you would be a better way to describe it.”

“I hope so. I like my cottage but it feels a little empty at times.”

“I’m sure she’ll be okay,” Harry said. “Darwina is probably kicking back in some comfy
little cave at this very moment.”

“Probably.”

Thunder rolled and the rain beat furiously at the windows, an intruder demanding entrance. An unfamiliar excitement feathered Rachel’s senses.
It’s the energy of the storm,
she thought. But that wasn’t the full explanation. It was being here alone with Harry that was sending sparks of awareness and anticipation through her. The intimacy swirling in the atmosphere between them was distracting, intense, and incredibly arousing.

Would he try to kiss her again tonight? If the edgy, sexy heat in his eyes was anything to go by, the answer was probably yes. But he would not force himself on her, so the more important question was, would she let him kiss her? And would she respond?

You’re at the top of his suspect list; of course it would not be a good idea,
she thought.
Talk about sleeping with the enemy
.

But it was hard to think of Harry as the enemy. An adversary, yes, an opponent, perhaps, a challenge, definitely. But not the enemy, never the enemy.

She picked up her wineglass and took a fortifying swallow. She needed the drink. Her imagination was running wild.

“What was it like growing up in an HE community?” Harry asked.

Startled, she looked at him over the rim of the wineglass. “What?”

“Sorry. That was a very personal
question.”

“No, no, it’s okay.” She pulled her scattered thoughts together. “It was good. Life is what it is when you’re a kid. You take what you get and deal with it, especially if you don’t know that there is another way of doing things. I had a happy childhood. I love my parents and I know they love me. I was taught to use my talent in a positive, fulfilling way.”

“But you chose to leave the Community.”

“Yes.” She took another sip of wine and looked into the fire. “The members of the Community are challenged to live in a very self-disciplined way according to the Principles of Harmonic Enlightenment. Balance and focus in all things is the goal.”

“You had trouble with that?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Luckily, my parents understood. They knew, even before I did, that I would never find true inner harmony if I forced myself to try to live my whole life within the regimen of the Community. As my father said, I needed to run the experiment—give the outside world a shot and see if it was for me.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“No.” She smiled. “But I also knew I couldn’t go back to the Community, at least not to live full-time. Rain-shadow feels right, though, at least for now. What about you? What was it like growing up in the Sebastian family?”

“Like you, I can’t complain. Good parents. My brother and sister and I are close. But I wasn’t cut out for the corporate world.”

“So they put you in charge of security?”

He smiled. “After I screwed up in every other
department of the family business. Between you and me, sooner or later I’m going to screw up running security, too.”

“Why?”

“Because I wasn’t cut out for upper management. I don’t like sitting behind a desk. I don’t like meetings. Don’t like dealing with personnel issues. Don’t like looking at charts and graphs. I need to be outside the office.”

The charms on her bracelet shivered lightly.

“Of course you do,” she said. “You need to hunt.”

He went very still. His eyes burned. “Do you see that in my aura?”

She was surprised by the question. “Yes.”

“You really can see it, can’t you?”

“Uh-huh.” She sipped more wine.

“Technically speaking, I’m not supposed to exist. I’m one of the monsters, a psychic vampire.”

Rachel waved that aside with a small movement of her hand. “Nope, not even close.”

“You’re sure of that?”

“Oh, yeah, positive.”

She sipped some wine and tried to think of a polite way to ask about his divorce. But some things you just don’t ask, not even on a second date.

Date?

Time to change the subject, she thought.

But it was Harry who changed it.

“You do realize that after tonight no one is going to buy the excuse that we accidentally got caught in a storm together again,” he said.

“Between
you and me, no one in Shadow Bay bought it the first time.”

A muffled
thump
at the window interrupted her. Rachel sucked in a sharp breath and turned quickly. There was a dark shadow perched on the ledge. It was approximately the size and shape of a rain-drenched rat. The shadow scratched at the glass.

“Take it easy,” Harry said. He set down his glass, got to his feet, and started across the small space. “Probably a broken branch or some debris kicked up by the wind.”

“No, there’s something out there,” Rachel said. She jumped to her feet. “It’s Darwina.”

Another ragged bolt of lightning cracked in the darkness, illuminating the wet blob on the window ledge. Darwina stared into the fire-lit room, all four eyes wide open. She batted at the window again.

“I wonder how she found you way out here,” Harry said. “That psychic bond between the two of you must be damn strong.”

“She’s probably looking for refuge from the storm. The poor thing must be soaked through.”

Rachel flew across the room and reached the window ahead of Harry. She struggled futilely with the old window latch. “This thing is stuck.”

Darwina was huddled on the narrow ledge, her wet fur plastered around her small body. She blinked her second set of eyes, the amber pair that dust bunnies opened only for hunting or when they were threatened. She clutched a bedraggled-looking Amberella in one paw.

Rachel
jerked harder on the latch. It didn’t move. Darwina bounced up and down and scratched at the glass, clearly agitated.

“I’ve never seen her like this,” Rachel said. “She’s very anxious, probably terrified by the lightning.”

“I’m not so sure about that,” Harry said. “But it’s obvious she wants inside. If you’ll step out of the way, I’ll deal with the window.”

“Thanks.” Rachel moved aside.

Harry gripped the old latch in one powerful hand and forced it to move. There was a grinding sound from the rusty metal, but the latch gave. There was another protesting groan when Harry forced the window open.

The storm roared into the room, bringing a blast of rain. Darwina bounded through the opening, Amberella in her paw, and vaulted up onto Rachel’s shoulder.

Harry got the window closed. Darwina growled and shook the rain out of her fur, showering Rachel in the process.

“Okay, now we’re both wet,” Rachel said. Smiling, she reached up to pat Darwina. Her hand froze when the dust bunny rumbled in warning.

Harry watched Darwina with narrowed eyes. “She may look cute and cuddly but she’s a wild animal, Rachel.”

“I’m sure she won’t hurt me,” Rachel said. “But she is very agitated.”

Darwina gave another low, ominous growl. She was half-sleeked, and her gaze was fixed on the window.

“She may have been fleeing a predator,” Harry said. “I wonder what hunts dust bunnies here on the island.”

“No animal with any common sense
would be out hunting in this weather.”

They both looked at Darwina, who was still growling. Her attention was fixed on the dark night outside the window.

“Shit,” Harry said. But he said it very quietly.

He wrapped one hand around Rachel’s arm and hauled her to one side.

“What are you doing?” she gasped, stumbling a little to keep her balance.

“Stay away from the windows.” He used his free hand to yank down the shade and then released her to glide swiftly around the small room, closing the other blinds.

Rachel chilled. “Are you thinking what I think you’re thinking?”

“Whatever is out there has Darwina seriously alarmed,” Harry said. “It occurs to me that there is only one kind of animal that might be dumb enough or desperate enough to come out in a storm like this. No sense making targets of ourselves.”

She thought about the flickering afterimages she had seen earlier in the wake of a lightning strike. Maybe the ghostly figures in the trees had not been a product of her imagination.

“Oh, crap,” she said. “Do you really think there is someone out there?”

“We’re not taking any chances.” He clamped one hand on her shoulder and pushed her to a crouching position against one wall. “Stay in this room and stay down.” He opened the hall closet and took out the long black storm coat. “The lights are out but the fire is going strong.
I don’t want you silhouetted against the shades.”

“What are you going to do?” she asked.

“Take a look around.” He fastened the jacket.

“You’re going to go outside? Are you crazy? If there is someone out there, he might have a gun.”

“Believe it or not, that possibility did cross my mind. I’ll use the kitchen door. Remember, stay away from the windows.”

“Harry, I don’t think this is a good idea. You won’t be able to see a thing in this storm and if you use a flashlight you’ll make a perfect target of yourself.”

He went toward the kitchen. “I won’t need a flashlight.”

“Are you saying you can see in the dark?”

He paused in the doorway and looked back at her over his shoulder. In the shadows his eyes were already hot with his rising talent. “You said you saw my aura, but I never got around to telling you about the nature of my talent.”

“No,” she said. “You didn’t.”

“I told you, I’m one of the monsters. You should have believed me.”

He disappeared into the darkness of the small, unlit kitchen. Darwina rumbled anxiously in Rachel’s ear. She reached up to pat Darwina reassuringly.

“It’s okay. Harry is a professional,” Rachel said. “Not sure exactly what he’s going to do out there, but whatever it is, he’ll do it very, very well.”

Glass exploded in the bedroom. The sound of the shattered window stunned Rachel
for an instant. Before she could recover from the shock, there was another explosion and then firelight flashed violently in the room at the end of the short hall.

Darwina hissed. She was fully sleeked out now, her fur flattened against her small body. Her tufted ears were exposed. She vibrated with urgency. It didn’t require a psychic link to know that she was all in favor of heading for the door.

Rachel scrambled to her feet, grabbed her leather jacket off the coat rack and ran toward the kitchen. Darwina’s claws dug into her shoulder.

The inferno gathered energy with a speed that indicated a powerful accelerant had been used in the firebomb. The roar of the flames leaping down the hallway was louder than the thunder of the storm, a great, insatiable beast that would not be satisfied until it had consumed everything in its path.