Kay Hooper - Blood Dreams

I told you all this before, dammit. No, wait - I told Hollis all this before. So where is she? And why is somebody else speaking her lines ?

"Bad place to get trapped in a burning building," Roxanne noted. "The roof could fall in on us. Easily."

Exactly her lines.

Bishop appeared out of the smoke as suddenly as Roxanne had, weapon in hand, his face stone, eyes haunted. "We have to hurry."

"Yeah," Roxanne replied, "we get that. Burning building. Maniacal killer. Good seriously outnumbered by evil. Bad situation." Her words and tone were flippant, but her gaze on his face was anything but, intent and measuring.

It was always Hollis before. Why isn't it now?

"You forgot potential victim in maniacal killer's hands," he said, not even trying to match her tone.

"Never. Dani, did you see the basement, or are you feeling it?"

Oh, right -I have Paris's abilities .

"Stairs. I saw them." The weight on her shoulders felt like the world, too heavy to cast aside, so maybe that was what was pressing her down. Or… "And what I feel now… He's lower. He's underneath us."

"Then we look for stairs."

Dani coughed. She was trying to think, trying to remember. But dreams recalled were such dim, insubstantial things, even vision dreams sometimes, and there was no way for her to be sure she was remembering clearly.

Dammit, why do I keep going through the motions? Why don't I just lead the way to the damn stairs?

And where the hell is Hollis?

Why is that different this time?

Is it me?

What in God's name did I do?

She was overwhelmingly conscious of precious time passing and looked at her wrist, at the absurdly childish Mickey Mouse watch with its bright red band and cartoon face that told her it was 4:17 P.M. on Monday… October 13.

What? Oh, my God. That's tomorrow.

Why, dammit?

What the hell happened to change the date?

"Dani?"

She shook off the momentary confusion. "The stairs aren't where you'd expect them to be," she said, coughing again. "They're in a small room or office, something like that. Not a hallway. Hallways-"

"What?"

The instant of certainty was fleeting but absolute and gave the term déjà vu . a whole new meaning for Dani.

Jesus, it's like I'm stuck in a loop -

"The basement is divided," she heard herself say. "By a solid wall. Two big rooms. And accessed from this main level by two different stairways, one at each side of the building, in the back."

Two traps. Not one.

No… two parts to one trap.

"What kind of crazy-ass design is that?" Roxanne demanded.

"If we get out of this alive, you can ask the architect." The smell of blood was almost overpowering, but Dani's headache was-She didn't have a headache this time around.

Okay, I'm definitely stronger now, hut -

A trap with two parts…

Tomorrow! How can it be so soon?

What happened to change the date? Is it because we found - or will find - the warehouse quicker this time? Because Paris was able to transfer her abilities to me ?

No, wait…

Bishop said potential victim.

God. Oh, God.

Where's Hollis?

Marc appeared out of the smoke as abruptly as the other two had and took her hand in his free one. In his other hand was a big revolver.

Right gun this time. Déjà vu.

"Where to now?" he asked. "I can't see shit for all this smoke."

Roxanne replied to his question. "Dani is guiding us."

He looked down at her, his expression calm but his eyes holding something as intimate as a caress.

Wow. Never knew a man could make love with just his eyes before. How about that?

Marc said, "I always knew the beautiful assistant was the real wizard. Like the man behind the curtain. Where to, Dani?"

The same - yet not. Why does it keep changing ?

It was Bishop who said, "You don't know which side they're in."

"No. I'm sorry." She felt as if she'd been apologizing to this man since she met him. Hell, she had been.

That isn't right. He apologized to me. The first words he said to me were an apology. Because of Paris. Because he used Paris as bait.

Bait…

Am I figuring out the trap?

Or am I part of it?

Roxanne was frowning. To Bishop, she said, "Great. Wonderful. You're psychically blind, Gabe and I are useless except to hold guns, and we're in a huge burning building without a freakin' map."

"Which is why Dani is here." Those pale sentry eyes were fixed on her face.

Dani felt a little dizzy but oddly confident as well. "All I know is that he's down there somewhere."

"And Hollis?"

Hollis. Oh, my God.

She's the potential victim.

The monster has her.

"Dani?" Bishop's face was even more strained.

Hollis. He asked about Hollis.

And she had an answer for him. Of sorts. "She isn't dead. She's bait, you know that. She was always bait, to lure you."

"And you," Bishop said.

To lure me?

To lure us.

Always bait, to lure us. But he only ever wanted to catch one of us. He just wanted you distracted, disarmed -

"We have to go, now," she heard herself say urgently. "He won't wait, not this time."

The conversation had taken only brief minutes, but even so the smoke was thicker, the crackling roar of the fire louder, and the heat growing ever more intense.

"We're running out of time on every level," Marc said, his fingers tightening around Dani's. "The storm may roll around us like the last few have done, so we can't count on rain. It's been dry as hell for weeks, and this place is going up like a match. I've called it in."

Bishop swore under his breath. "Marc-"

"Don't worry, they know it's a hostage situation, and they won't come in. But they can damn well aim their hoses outside and try to save the nearby property." He paused, then added, "Am I the only one who suspects this bastard planned out every last detail, including this place being a tinderbox?"

Roxanne said, "No, you aren't the only one. We're on his timetable, just like he wants."

Bishop turned and started toward the rear of the building and the south corner. "I'll go down on this side. You three head for the east corner."

Dani wondered if instinct was guiding him as well, but all she said, to Roxanne, was, "He doesn't care whose timetable we're on."

" I noticed that. Why do I get the feeling he blames himself for this mess?"

"He couldn't have known-"

"According to everything I've heard about him, he certainly could have known. Maybe he did. Part of this, at least. Something that might have stopped things before it got this far. Come on, let's go."

Dani and Marc followed, but she had to ask, "Do you believe it's his fault?"

Roxanne paused for only an instant, looking back over her shoulder-

And for an instant, Dani saw Paris instead.

And then Hollis.

And then Miranda.

And when Roxanne replied, she sounded like an eerie blend of four different voices. "He played God one time too many. He thinks he can stop the prophecy . And we're paying the price for his arrogance."

We're paying the price.

We are.

Prophecy? What prophecy?

Dani held on to Marc's hand even tighter as they followed the other woman. She could hardly breathe, her throat tighter despite the fact that, as they reached the rear half of the building, the smoke wasn't nearly as thick. They very quickly discovered, in the back of what might once have been a small office, a door that opened smoothly and silently to reveal a stairwell.