I opened my mouth to refute his statement, but the words never came out because the room suddenly got colder.
Colder in an all too familiar way.
Goose bumps raced up my arms and I looked away from Kye, my gaze doing a sweep of the room. There was no smoke, no insubstantial wisps, hiding in any of the corners, and yet there was no mistaking the fierce chill that suddenly rode the air.
There was a soul here somewhere, and it wanted to speak.
“What the fuck?” Kye said, his head suddenly whipping toward the right corner.
There was no soul to be seen there, yet it did seem to be the main source of the chill.
But how the fuck was he sensing it?
I glanced at him sharply, briefly stopping the dance then forcing myself to keep going as I remembered the watching cameras. What do you feel?
I don't know. He frowned. It feels like death. Cold, cold death.
And he should know, having dished it out often enough.
How the fuck are you feeling that? I wanted to grab him and shake him—hard—and finally get some answers out of the damn man. He wasn't clairvoyant—hell, he even admitted to not being telepathic—and yet here he was, telepathic one day and clairvoyant the next. He might be listed as having no psychic talent, but something sure as hell was going on. And maybe, just maybe, I knew what it was. Have you got some weird ability to siphon the talents of others?
He glanced at me, and though his expression had suddenly gone blank, he gave a short, sharp nod. Tell me what I'm—we're—sensing.
Tell me the fuck, about your talent, I snapped back. Just how far does it extend?
He didn't answer. I clenched, then unclenched my fist. Tell me, Kye, or I will call in the Directorate and get your ass thrown in jail. And trust me, it wouldn't even blow this operation wide open, because the Directorate has guardians who can seize control of every man and woman in this place, regardless of whether they were wearing wires or not. And they wouldn't even remember it.
Hell, I could probably do it if I put my mind to it—Jack kept insisting I'd be one of the strongest telepaths he had if only I'd apply myself a little more.
Which is precisely why I didn't. I didn't want that sort of power. What I had was scary enough.
For the longest of moments, Kye didn't answer. When he finally did, it was flatly, grudgingly, done. I'm what you call a sipher. If I'm in the presence of another person with a psychic talent, that talent becomes mine for as long as I am with them.
So when you're with me, you're telepathic.
And I can shadow, because that is also a psychic talent—one that is very handy when stalking vampires.
Which is why he was such a skilled hunter of vampires. Most vampires wouldn't expect a werewolf to be able to shadow, and by the time they heard the rush of life and realized Kye was near, it was already too late.
And now you're sensing the soul?
Is that what it is?
Yes, I snapped, stripping off several scarves and tossing them across his face. And hang onto your hat, because it's about to get a whole lot worse.
And with that, I reached out to the soul and said, Who are you?
The chill got fiercer, until it felt like fingers of ice were creeping into my soul. I didn't know why it always felt like these souls brought the chill of the underworld with them. Maybe it was because they were trapped between two worlds, neither here nor in heaven or hell—or wherever else souls went to.
Something stirred against the soft, golden light infusing the corner—a wisp of thicker air that held no shape and couldn't even be defined as smoke.
Billy. Billy Cardwell, it said, the insubstantial voice young and confused.
I continued dancing, only half concentrating on the music. Another scarf went. Kye caught it and tossed it to one side, his gaze heated and expression intent. He looked for the world like a man who was enjoying his dance, but I knew the only thing he was intent on was listening in on my conversation with the soul.
Do you know what happened, Billy?
The soul stirred softly, a wisp with no features and no body that gently rotated.
She went ballistic, he answered. She attacked me.
Do you know why?
For a moment there was no answer, but the energy continued to build in the air, giving the soul the strength to speak.
She kept screaming “the bitch. I'll get the bitch for this.”
Had she meant the teenager who hadn't shown up? Or me? What time was this?
He didn't answer for several seconds, then said, I had the room booked for seven-thirty, so it was just after that.
So the rage—and Billy's subsequent murder—had definitely happened before she'd gone on to slaughter Jason Burke and his lover. Meaning her rage, or her need to tear, had not been assuaged with Billy's death. Or maybe we were simply dealing with a mind that wasn't exactly chummy with sanity. Is that all?
The energy in the air was still building, until the small hairs along the nape of my neck were standing on end. Only then did the words come again.
She said something about no one stopping her from making them all pay.
Thank you, Billy. I hesitated, then added, It's safe to move on now. We'll take care of her for you.
Maybe that was what he was waiting to hear, because the energy abruptly fell away, and the soul disintegrated, fleeing to whatever region of afterlife it was bound for.
I took a deep, shuddering breath that did little to clear the sudden wash of weakness from my limbs. Maybe Cole was right. Maybe the energy these souls were using to talk wasn't coming from the air around us, but from me.
Fuck, that was unreal, Kye muttered, suddenly looking as washed out as I felt. And I hope I'm never with you when another one of those pops up.
Oh, I don't think, that's going to be a problem, I snapped back, although I wasn't entirely sure whether I was annoyed more with him, or with myself for not having the gumption to call in the Directorate and get this man locked up. It was too late now, despite my earlier threat. We were in the end game and simply couldn't afford to stop right now.
I just had to hope that my reluctance to do something about the man didn't end up being the biggest mistake I'd ever made in my life.
fter tossing off the final scarf—leaving me in just the jeweled bodice and G-string—I leaned over, shaking my breasts in his face as I said, How much longer until the lights go out?Even as I asked the question, the lights went out. As they did, Kye wrapped a hand around the back of my neck, dragging me close, and kissed me. This was no gentle kiss—it was fierce, hungry, and very erotic. A promise of what was to come, of what he wanted.
He let me go with the same sort of suddenness, and I staggered back a little before catching my balance. My lips felt puffy with the force of his kiss, and my body was in turmoil, desire fighting with common sense, one part of my soul fighting against the other.
Let's find this door, if there is one, he said, mind voice flat and controlled.
But he wasn't. I could feel the turmoil and desire raging through his body, and it was every bit as strong as mine. This wolf might want me, but he didn't want to want me.
We were fighting the same fight, and we were both losing.
I didn't answer, just walked across to the door and unlocked it. With the lights and security out, they'd probably evacuate the building, so maybe they'd think we'd already left the room.
I turned around and blinked to switch on the infrared of my vamp vision. The outline of the door was instantly obvious, tucked away in the far left corner.
Over here. I walked across and pulled the curtain back. The door was handprint and iris coded. Well, fuck.
The emergency lighting flickered then came on. The generators had obviously kicked in. Will these doors still be functional?
Probably.
What about the cameras?
Footsteps sounded in the hall outside, followed by gruff voices. They were still several rooms away from ours, but we were running out of time fast.
The cameras probably wouldn't be considered a priority, so I'd say no. Which is probably why they're evacuating. He bent to look at the lock. There's no getting around it. We need a guard to open it.
Then let's get one.
I reached out telepathically for the guards in the hallway. With the nanowires they were all wearing, it felt like I was hitting a brick wall. I continued to push telepathically, hitting the nanowire with everything I had. As sweat beaded across my forehead, my consciousness began to seep through the wire's wall, until suddenly I was through. I grabbed the guard's mind, wrapping around it completely, letting him finish evacuating the schoolroom before walking him down toward us.
He opened the door and walked into the room, and even had the cameras been active, they wouldn't have picked up anything out of place. My touch these days was so light that I could control a mind and still have that person look and act completely natural.
“I'm afraid we've lost power and have to evacuate the building,” he said, gaze sweeping the room but not actually seeing anything important. He wasn't even seeing us standing at the other door—I was making sure of that.
I nudged Kye, and nodded toward the guard. He seemed to get what I wanted, because he said, “My time isn't up yet.”
“All monies will be refunded, sir.” He walked over to the door and pressed his hand against the scanner. After a beep, he leaned forward, letting his eye be scanned. There was a soft click, and the door opened.
I turned him around and walked him back out the door. As I retreated from his mind, I left the image of us walking away from the room.
As the hall door clicked shut, I blew out a breath and lifted a sweaty strand of hair from my forehead.
So you're one of the guardians who could walk, into this club and freeze the mind of every man and woman in this club, Kye said, eyeing me with an odd expression.